Reviews by PinkyPowers

~::This review was first published on The Headphone List. Now I share it with my Head-Fi fellows::~

::Disclaimer::
plusSound provided the X6 free of charge for the purpose of this review, for good or ill.

The X6 T-Metal sells for $674.99 (standard 4ft length)
www.plusSoundAudio.com

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This cable first came to me as an IEM cable. There was a lot I liked about it, some things I didn’t, but overall I simply found it strange. Which is not a bad thing! Ergonomics really hurt it, and this crazy high-end wire saw little use because of that. You can see my original review here.

A few months went by and I was asking around the custom cable-makers for an upgrade cable for my Audeze LCD-2 v2 Fazor. plusSound jumped at the opportunity, but with a bizarre twist. Christian of plusSound suggested I send back that X6 T-Metal, knowing I probably didn’t use it much, based on my review. He explained how they’d lay their fat voodoo upon it, transforming the X6 into something new.

Pinky’s interest was piqued. Indeed I told Christian, for a full-size headphone, cable ergonomics is far less important than it is for IEMs. I said, “Go wild.” And they did. I could hardly wait to see the bold and terrible fruit of their dread ambition.

Behold! The Monstrosity!



It’s ****ing gorgeous, ain’t it? Absolutely dazzling! The IEM cable was only 3ft long. I needed at least 6ft to work properly with my desktop setup. So plusSound made a 3ft extension to go along. Talk about accommodating! Jesus! They took off the 2-pin IEM connectors, and the 2.5mm TRRS plug, and added Audeze-compatible mini XLRs and a full-size 4-pin XLR for the balanced output on my Audio-GD NFB-28. No Frankenstein demon here. This is the height of craftsmanship and ingenuity; a proud, handsome work to bring out the full charms of the LCD-2.



So how does it sound?

Well, first let me explain why I even wanted a new cable. I had built a really nice one from Toxic Cable’s DiY store. I used Frank’s Silver Poison conductor, which is silver plus around 1% gold. This made the LCD-2 rather dry and lean-sounding. Practically analytical in presentation. A lot of that I feel is the conductor size, being rather small at 26AWG. Not ideal for full-size headphones known for big bass. As a result, I often EQ’ed these headphones, raising the low-end by no small amount. Even then, I could sense (maybe just in my mind) a lack of body.

So I sought the opposite. I wanted a cable that would give the LCD-2 more weight and warmth than they’ve ever had. Based on what the X6 did to my IEMs, I had a feeling this would serve my needs perfectly.

plusSound’s T-Metal is an update on their old Tri-Metal. T-Metal contains six strands within each conductor. Three are Gold-Plated Copper Litz, and three are Silver Plus Gold Litz. And of course, the X6 is a build using six of those clever wires.

Right away I could hear a crap-ton more energy and heft from these Planar drivers. Also, a lot more bass! EQ is in permanent disuse. Gone is the dryness and analytical feel. The LCD-2 is wet again, practically dripping with virility. The sound is bigger and fuller.

Treble is nice and extended, with lovely twinkle, but it’s softer and less harsh. With the Silver Poison, it could get a little grating. Raising the bass helped mask that. Now, the X6 does all that for me. There remains solid air and light up top, along with that precise treble definition.

The vocals have becoming artfully lush, without sacrificing clarity and transparency. There is a tangible weight to the notes, and wondrous vibrancy. Mids are richer and more liquid than they were with the Silver Poison.

I remember when I reviewed the X6 for IEMs, the soundstage became taller by a significant leap. It’s difficult to say if that’s happening here, because these huge-ass Planar Drivers always sound so tall. It’s part of that characteristic “wall of sound” effect. What I can say is everything has become bigger, and more “alive”. The LCD-2 sounds barely contained, like’s it’s trying to break free of its leash and jump all over you.

The Silver Poison was a drastic change from the stock cable, or the balanced OCC copper I built before it. The X6 T-Metal is like a brilliant mix of the two, with added lushness, WAY more dynamics, and a flat-out bigger, more impressive sound.

And the ergonomics? **** me if I don’t love it. The weight and flexibility is just perfect for a headphone like the Audeze LCD-2.2f. There’s no real microphonics, and the X6 feels very nice draped over me. The X6 T-Metal is a king-hell awesome pairing for Audeze, and has caused me to love these headphones anew.

-~::Pinky_Powers::~-

~::I first published this review on The Headphone List. Now share it with my Head-Fi fellows::~

:: Disclaimer ::
Meze provided the 99 Neo free of charge in exchange for my honest review, for good or ill.

The Meze 99 Neo sells for $249
www.MezeAudio.com
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I received an alert from Joker: Meze had offered The Headphone List a review unit of their newest spawn, the Neo. Did any of us care to tackle it? Quick on the draw, I was. The 99 Classics is currently my preferred portable over-ear. In fact, I wrote such a thorough, flattering review, Meze felt certain I had been part of the original tour. No Meze, I was merely doing what I do, celebrating exceptional equipment. The 99 Classics’ signature resonates perfectly with my tastes, and is one of my favorite things to listen to, at any price range. I simply adore it.

So I was eager to get my hands on their Neo variant. I expected… well, I don’t know what I expected. On paper, it seemed like Neo was nothing more than a plastic-cupped version of the 99C. But I don’t know of any headphone company which does that. When a manufacturer releases a new unit, and gives it a new name, they almost always retune the thing, if for no other reason than to appeal to a new segment. The broader the range of flavor on offer, the broader the potential customer base.

I just didn’t know what the Neo would be. It could go either way.

Everything about the Neo proclaims its new flavor. It isn’t Rocky Road to the 99C’s Neapolitan. Nothing so extreme. Rather, it’s Double Fudge Brownie to 99C’s old-school chocolate. Richer, chewier, and more adolescent.

You can see this even in the carry case. Meze didn’t have to redesign the case. Why would they? But they did it anyway, as a statement: Neo is not Classic. The case is neither better nor worse than the old one. It’s just different. Both are beautifully crafted and a great way to carry these phones about.

The cable has been redesigned. Though, I think that is for the whole 99 line, not just Neo. The lower-portion of the cable is still covered in a nice cloth, but now, after the Y-split, the cord is sheathed in rubber. I think this is meant to reduce microphonic vibrations. Whatever the reason, the cable was well-made before, and it’s well-made now.

Just as the 99 Classics before it, the Neo is highly comfortable. The clamp force holds them secure, and the pads keep things soft and easy. I have no trouble wearing them for long hours at a time. Due to the plastic cups, Neo is a touch lighter, and will prove even friendlier for those long listening sessions.

Neo is using new pads. When the 99 Classics first released, they had small pads, which garnered more complaints across the web than anything else… by far. So Meze released new pads to go on their next batch. I have those larger pads, they came with my 99C. Yet Neo’s pads are bigger still. They’re wider, and deeper.

Certainly, these new pads play a role in what I hear. How much of a role, is hard to say, so we shall take on this challenge now.


Let’s not mince words here. The Meze 99 Neo is warm and profoundly bassy. Folk complain about the Classics’ low-end being too exaggerated. Well, crap just got real. The bass dominates everything else about these headphones. Fortunately, the lows are possessed of lovely tonality. There is a textured, chasmal feel about them. It’s huge, it’s thick, and it colors every goddamn thing.

Things like the vocals. I would never have called the mids on the 99C “lush”. But they’ve crossed that line with Neo. They aren’t as clear and vibrant anymore. They are thick, extremely smooth, and mighty warm. Yet there is still more than enough detail and articulation to paint a lifelike image. If you’re a fan of the HD650, you may fall in love with Neo’s vocals. They are a deep, soothing bowl of oatmeal on a cold day.


After some proper burn-in, the highs have finally come out to play. I no longer believe they’re rolled off, which was my first impression. Indeed, Neo has some lovely sparkle up top, with delightful extension. It’s not quite on the same level as the 99C, but close. I cannot express how paramount this is for Pinky’s enjoyment of these cans. Not because I’m a Treblehead, but rather that indomitable bass threatens to choke the whole presentation, and the treble brings a much-needed balance. It lets in the sun and the air, clearing out some of the stuffiness.

Blessedly, Neo is just as capable in the soundstage as the 99C, being one of the widest and deepest closed-back headphones on the market. Ok, it might have taken a little hit, but not much. These things create a grand sense of space. Instruments are well defined and positioned with good accuracy. Resolution is above average, but not jaw-dropping. What impresses me is how much air and layering there is, given the heavy-handed sub frequencies.

Even though most of this review has been a comparison to the 99 Classics, let’s take a paragraph to condense the differences.

The Meze 99 Classics are clearer. Greater detail comes through. The treble glistens more, giving superior air to the stage. Things don’t sound so excessively thick, as the bass is not trouncing over everything else. Instead of lush, the vocals are transparent and realistic. The soundstage is a hair bigger, though both are excellent.

I have marked a few physical differences, which might account for some of the disparity, beyond the wood/plastic of it all.


The earpads are deeper, and wider on the Neo. And as I mentioned earlier, I already have the improved 99C pads.


While my 99C does not have a damper glued to the front of the driver, it does have thicker material in the pads themselves, which should have much the same effect.

What does it all mean? *** if I know. Meze changed so much it’s hard to track. The bottom line is these two headphones don’t sound the same.

AudioQuest’s NightOwls are nearly three times as much as Neo. But since I don’t have many closed-back headphones, and I’ve really been crushing on these lately, why not do a comparison?

The NOs are cleaner. More liquid. That low-distortion AQ advertises is indeed audible. It’s weird how little grain or blemishes come through. The bass goes into the deepest registers, and can just hold it there, without pounding or booming. Its sub-bass doesn’t sound like drivers generate it, but rather like it simply exists. It’s the most natural low-end I’ve heard outside of the LCD-2. And it’s not too exaggerated, either. More like the 99C instead of Neo.

Those lows don’t bleed, either. While the vocals have a lush flavor, they are brilliantly detailed and clear. You get superior separation and layering than either Meze can manage. A level of refinement is conveyed by the NightOwl which elevates it beyond lesser options. Sweet Jesus, these are an elegant set of transducers.

Even after something like 60-70 hours of burn-in, NO’s treble is not as shimmery as Neo. It takes a little time to adjust to the darker tone. Once you do, the highs show themselves to be well-extended, soft as silk, and without any unnatural peaks. They remind me of the 64Audio U12 in this aspect. You have to sacrifice a little bit of brightness for the magic. If you can accept that, you get to enjoy a special treasure.

Soundstage is grander on all levels. Imaging and resolution don’t get much better than this. As one might infer from the price, NightOwl is on another level.

One of the best comparisons to make is the Sennheiser/Massdrop HD6XX (Special edition of the HD650). Neo has more bass, by a not-insignificant gap, yet the tuning has the same warm/lush quality. In spite of one being open-back, and the other closed, they feel cut from the same cloth. The lows on the HD650 are tighter, with superior texture. Meze goes deeper, though, with real sub-bass. Neo’s treble possesses more bite, whereas HD6XX is an easy, laid-back listen. The mids are alike in so many ways, with detail, prominence, and clarity awfully close. I may have to give it to Neo for soundstage, whereas imaging and separation are of a higher quality on the Senn.

Due to the open nature of the HD6XX, and its balance, you get a sense Sennheiser is a friend who loves you. Neo, on the other hand, is constantly kicking you in the stomach with bass, and flicking your nipples with treble. Only you will know which excites you more. I judge not.

Because of the Neo’s propensity for bass and warmth, I recommend a player that is as neutral as possible, or at least one that does well in the treble and has strong, clear mids.


My Opus#2 makes a great pairing with Neo. On its own, the Opus#2 is just slightly on the warm side. But it has outstanding dynamics and treble presence. There is tremendous body to the notes, and WAY more driving power than you’d ever need for the new Mezes. It’s also the widest sounding DAP I’ve heard, so Neo gets to stretch out to its fullest. You won’t easily find a smoother, more natural renderer than Opus#2, which gives Neo all the ingredients to become its best self. It’s very hard not to fall for these headphones when plugged into this music player.

Cayin’s i5 is a rather warm, thick DAP, with extreme bass presence. While it’s not a disaster for Neo, it does take it even further in the direction I’m trying to avoid. Nonetheless, I found myself digging this pairing. There’s something about rich, powerful musicality that defies prejudice. Is it my favorite signature? No. But I can’t deny it has its charms. And an ample supply, at that.


The Opus#1 is my choice for best mid-fi audio player. With Neo, it brings in more air, giving a better sense of space and separation. The highs are nice and glistening, the mids are more vivid, and there’s solid kick down low. The Opus#1 is amazingly neutral, without ever being cold or analytical. It’s the best version of neutral, where everything shines, due to exquisite dynamism. I’ve said it before, this DAP brings out the best in every headphone, no matter the profile, and Neo is no exception. Opus does an admirable job balancing this bottom-heavy gorilla.

The new Cayin N3 is currently in my possession for testing. It’s only seen around twenty hours of burn-in. So much might change as the days roll by. Right now, however, it gives Neo a thin, weak sound. Warm, but not much going on at either end of the spectrum. It’s quite lifeless right now, with a tiny, boxed-in stage. Let us hope the N3 will open up with time.


Even my pathetic Galaxy S6 gave Neo a FAR better spring in its step. Together they sound… okay. Get well-loud. Plenty of energy. But, this is not a great smartphone for audio quality. I suggest you choose a different one, or better yet, a nice DAP.

So that’s the Meze 99 Neo. Pinky is fond of these headphones. They are a terribly fun listen. Too much bass! For sure! Give me the 99C any day of the week. Yet Neo is decidedly sweet nonetheless, and knows how to delight a fellow. There’s no way around it, Neo’s got the goods. Coming from Meze, I’d expect nothing less.

-~::Pinky_Powers::~-

~::I originally published this review on The Headphone List. Now I wish to share it with my Head-Fi fellows::~

::Disclaimer::
The Kaiser Encore was given to me free of charge in exchange for my honest review, for good or ill.

The Kaiser Encore sells for $1,850.00
NobleAudio.com
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For many in this hobby, Noble Audio has stood as a pinnacle of sorts. We’ve all looked at them, at one time or another, and lusted for their products. When you start out with your first audiophile IEM, you can’t imagine spending $1,850 on something so small and innocuous. But you can dream. Hell yes, you can dream! Noble’s original Kaiser 10 made an appearance in many a fantasy, let me assure you. It still holds the most 5-star ratings of any in-ear monitor on Head-Fi.org.

Fate being the shrew that she is, I never did get an opportunity to try the K10. I came very close to buying it once, but went with a newer product turning a lot of heads at the time, the Rhapsodio Solar BA10. That is a direct competitor according to the forums, one which led a few K10 owners to stray. I am still a big fan of Solar. It will remain in my rotation for a long time to come. That and the 64Audio U12 shall not leave my side anytime soon. Everything I test competes against them. It is a menacing hurdle for newcomers to clear.

When I contacted Noble Audio, I kinda spammed them. I hit up the main support address listed on their website, and sent Privet Messages on Head-Fi to both John Moulton and Brannan Mason. The rejuvenated Kaiser had my blood hot, and I simply had to try it out. I missed the K10, and I could not miss the launch of the Encore. I would not!

Brannan got in touch with me good and quick, and a review sample of the Kaiser Encore was sent out immediately after. 2 Day Air mail. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say they wanted to impress me. It worked.

He asked me if I would review their updated packaging and accessories if they sent it out later, after everything was finalized. I laughed, explaining how I didn’t give a **** about that stuff. Still, I said I would, even though it really wasn’t my thing. I’d do it for him, because I loved him. There must have been something I said to make Brannan nervous, because he decided against it.

Oh well. Probably for the best.

A few days ago I put on my journalist pants and asked John (the Wizard) if there was anything he wanted to share about his vision for Encore. The insights contained within his reply are most intriguing:

Hi there

The Encore is kind of an extension of the K10. The K10, while an excellent product (28 consecutive 5 stars) was designed with the goal to be a non-polarizing product. A product that would have the ability to play many genres without excelling in one specific genre over another.

While I think the K10 did a good job at that, I felt that the Encore should even do a better job than the K10 in that regards.

Also the K10 universal had some physical quirks I wanted to improve upon

1) I heard a lot of complaints that “red” was a girly color.

2) I thought the harsh angles and bright red color was a bit garish. The red was supposed to be my “B” (beats audio) meaning u see they red across the room, you know it is a K10 (not sure if that really was ever accomplished)

3) The harsh angles of the original K10UA caused specific wear points on the face plate, so we softened the curves on the face plate, which also gave the impression that the Encore is smaller than the K10UA

4) We didn’t want the Encore to be thought of as a total different product, it would be essentially a Gen 2 of the K10UA, as it shared a lot of design features. (10 drivers). We used the exact same bottom half of the housing that the K10 UA had, (silver) and we had a new face plate/cap designed specifically for the Encore, thus bringing the two closer together, at least in a physical way.

As for sound, they don’t sound the same. I say the Encore has more “awesome sauce” than the K10 has.

As for design features that are not found on the web site. The housing are made from aircraft grade billet aluminium. Each housing is CNC’d in California, by a firm known for their artistic abilities as they build low volume, artistic pieces, ranging from home furniture to home audio.

30 housings can be built a day, so we are not talking about mass quantities being stamped out in a short period of time. We have 5 different assembly facilities, and each facility is used for their specific skill sets, meaning each facility does what they do best. (for example our CIEM team in China, they only build CIEMs) The facility that builds the Encore focuses on the Encore and Katana. The Encore is closed via compression, 450 lbs is applied to the shell, in order to close it. That means, you can step on the shell, and it will survive, if anything, the Encore and Katan are guilty of being overbuilt. If you treat an Encore right, you can pass it down to your kids.

I hope the above was some help

John

Click to expand...

Indeed it is, good Wizard. Indeed it is.

I asked John what he meant by “more ‘awesome sauce’,” but he could not explain. It is too nebulous to nail down with words. He merely knows it when he hears it.

My Encore arrived in the traditional Pelican case, with a bunch of tips that don’t work for me (I use JVC Spiral Dots) and some stickers and a cleaning tool and… stuff. Good presentation. The Pelican case went into immediate use, while the stock cable went into immediate disuse… as is my way.





The ergonomics are quite good, while unusual. It is comfortable, but due to its unique shape, some cables struggle to work well with the Encore. I have the ALO Reference 8, which has angled 2-pin connectors. These hit my lobes, making it impossible to get Encore good and deep inside my ear. They are constantly falling out. The plusSound X6 T-Metal works better, but honestly, the cable which delivers the most comfort and best fit is the one I built: 4-strand 26AWG OCC SPC Litz terminated for balanced. It’s light and easy, and the ear loops are large enough not to interfere with Encore’s seating.

Being forged of metal, you can expect some weight. Next to my U12, they are huge, and very heavy. And yet, I say again, still comfortable, for all that. Not U12 comfortable, but not far off, either.





The Noble Kaiser Encore is a creature of clarity and detail. Every note on this massive soundstage is defined with frightful precision. There is vitality in the presentation which outruns my other IEMs. It is energetic and angry. I’ve never heard this kind of attack or crunch from an electric guitar. This is not a laid-back earphone. Encore is neutral with just a touch of warmth. There is too much liveliness and musicality to call these analytical, yet the resolution is such that you could certainly use these to analyze a recording with serious accuracy.

There is a special mix of smoothness and detail which allows all music to sound its best. The smoothness is enough to forgive disastrous mastering techniques, and the detail reveals everything, good or bad. Together is a marriage that flat-out works. Imperfections are heard, but you’re so in love with the tonality you gladly overlook them. Encore is a thing of masterful balance. It does it all, but never takes its pursuits so far as to alienate your average audiophile. It’s a philosophy most will appreciate.

Treble on Encore is bright and shimmering. It’s just shy of harsh to my ears. Since I favor warmer equipment you can assume my tolerance for bleeding highs is pretty low. I think most people will find it safe for their tastes. It is a natural treble, clean and free of sibilance. It’s just very, very present. Cymbals clash realistically and you can hear their reverberations articulated. It’s quite impressive.

The vocals are vivid, sharp, and splendidly detailed. They come off transparent and natural. Note weight is good and thick, but the mids are absolutely NOT lush. Nor or they thin. They have tremendous gravitas, uncolored, and honest. Whether male or female, the vocals render true and visceral. A singer’s texture and quirks are highlighted, making their unique style all the more evident.

Encore’s bass is sort of an enigma. It has the ability to hide when it’s not called for, but somehow manages to always maintain that balance of warmth and musicality. Without that, these IEMs would be prone to sounding cold and bright, due to that extreme treble. Instead, the low end keeps things cozy and organic. When a track brings in the bass, Encore fills out superbly well. Its sub frequencies are fast and textured with decent extension. You don’t get deep rumbles felt in the marrow of your bones, and you are never in doubt these are Balanced Armatures, as opposed to the more natural-sounding Dynamic Driver. I am accustomed to a heftier sound down below, and at first I feared Encore lacked the charms I desire. Yet after weeks of using these as my main set, I can say the new Kaiser delivers rather satisfying bass, however different it may be to my preconception.

Having an intimate familiarity with the U12, I am not easy to impress when it comes to soundstage. That said, Encore is a spacious sonofabitch. I’m not ready to say it’s as big as the U12, particularly when using the right module, but it gives you a grand soundscape to immerse yourself in. Add to that top-tier imaging and separation, and you have one of the finest executers on the market. There is so much air and space between the instruments, you feel like you can walk between them and study each player’s technique… aided, of course, by the best resolution I’ve heard in an IEM. It just feels real.



64Audio’s U12 is a very different IEM. This has been my favorite for a while now. It’s the warmest transducer I own, and I’m including full-size cans in that. Only the Sennheiser HD650 comes close. Somehow, the U12 combines great warmth, and enormous soundstage. It sounds a bit bigger than Encore. The bass is fuller, rumbling in deeper regions, and blooming in a more natural way. The U12’s low end quality is the closest thing you can get to a Dynamic Driver in the BA arena. Encore is tighter and more controlled, but the U12 is more organic and smooth. There is no question the U12 has more bass, and not by a small amount. It packs a monster low end. It’s too much for many folk. For Pinky, it’s perfect, using the ADEL B1 or APEX M15 modules. And quite frankly, I must give the U12 the win in this match. I’m just shy of a basshead, and what the U12 does down there fulfills me with abnormal finality.

Vocals are another matter. The U12 gives you the quintessential “lush” effect, due to its strong mid-bass and otherworldly smoothness. Lush is super enjoyable. But Encore renders those mids with extreme clarity, and a greater sense of detail. I experience a more transparent audio, with sharper definition. The U12 has a thicker sound, and while I do not call Encore thin, it comes off cleaner and more airy. Noble’s IEM creates a stark contrast between elements, making that space more evident. Whereas U12 likes to fill the whole stage with a flood of sounds. I love what the U12 does, but I think I prefer the transparency, clarity, and resolution of Encore.

It’s the treble that spoils the U12 for many enthusiasts. It extends well, but is recessed in the tuning. When you have loads of bass, thick, warm mids, and slightly hushed treble, it can make you feel there’s a veil over the music. My brain required a couple of days to adjust before that “veil” disappeared. Even then, the U12 does not dazzle you with its mastery of those high frequencies. It’s subdued and relaxed. They do their job, but nothing more. Encore KILLS THE U12 WITH TREBLE. Good treble, at that. Proper glitter. An excellent sense of light. Nothing cruel or grueling. Just a bright upper region that reveals all the wonders below.

Both IEMs have class-leading soundstage and imaging. They are grandiose, with depth and layering beyond reason. The U12 might be bigger, but only barely. Everything on their two stages is precise and identifiable. Encore has finer contrast and separation, which deepens the holographic effect of its rendering. Really, though, you can’t go wrong with either. They make other IEMs sound tiny.

Such as the Rhapsodio Solar. Sorry Solar. Ya know I love ya, but your soundstage is not very wide.

Solar’s frequency profile is decidedly U-Shaped. Not V-Shaped, but a gentle dip in the mids does exist. The vocals stand back a step or two on the stage, allowing a lovely swell of music to cushion them on either side. In this way, it’s very reminiscent of a live rock show, only you can actually hear the vocals. Ho ho. Solar builds the mids nice and thick, with real weight. They’re strong and clear. More so than the U12, yet still a far cry from Encore. Warmth and richness imbue the mids, and a surprising level of detail. Encore does all this as well, while also being even more meticulous and revealing, and without the vocals being recessed. Encore simply conveys a more vivid image.

Treble on Solar is oddly thick. There is sparkle, but not much air or brightness. It extends nicely and does so without ever approaching harsh. Next to something like Encore, however, Solar’s highs sound held back and frustrated. Encore is bold as brass, and gleams as if that brass has just been professionally polished.

Once again, bass wins out on my hand-picked IEMs. Solar uses two large Balanced Armatures for its subs, and it pays off. Compared to Encore, Solar’s lows have power, depth, and superior tonality. Solar also gives us great speed and texture. The lows just bloom so spectacularly, filling out the arrangement with delicious warmth. The only BA IEMs that beat Solar’s bass is, oddly enough, the U12. What can I say? I favor gear that takes the sub frequencies serious. Encore could learn a thing or two from these masters.

Something Solar does better than the others is stage depth. Perhaps a virtue of its U-Shape? The vocals pull me forward. I find I can almost wade through the music, feeling it swirl around me. It’s wholly engrossing. Imaging is just as good as Encore and U12, except on a smaller scope. These three are indeed top performers anyone can feel proud to own.



Because the Noble Encore is a bit on the warm side, with slightly elevated bass, it pairs well with just about any device you can imagine. If it were warmer, like the U12, you’d want a brighter DAP. If it were too bright, you’d want a warmer DAP. Just to keep things nice and balanced. But Encore is like the Meze 99 Classics, in that it is so dynamic, with a healthy low-end, and lustrous highs, it marries effortless with every player I own.



King of that pile is the Opus#2. This is a neutral-warm DAP, with strong yet smooth rendering. Highly refined, and insanely detailed, and the widest soundstage I’ve yet to hear. The Opus#2 plays to all of Encore’s strengths, even giving it some nice kick in the sub region. You will be hard-pressed to find a more natural, realistic DAP. It handles all its **** better than any other. As far as portable solutions go, this pairing is one of the smartest things you can do with your money.

Unless we’re talking about REAL smarts, and you want to save as much as possible, getting the most bang for your buck. Then I must recommend the Opus#1. I bought this AFTER I owned the Opus#2, because it is the finest sounding player in the sub-$800 range, according to my ears. It might possess even MORE dynamism than #2. It’s a little less smooth, with less body to the notes, though still very, very clear, clean and articulate. The soundstage is quite big, just not AS BIG as #2. But damn! Such glorious bass slam and treble sparkle. And those transparent mids! It really is a splendid DAP for Encore. It’s a splendid DAP for every IEM. Period.





You can’t go wrong with the Cayin i5, either. If you want to add a little color to Encore, the i5’s deep, warm sound will steal your heart. This DAP has powerful sonics and the most body and bass presence of the bunch. The treble is less free and open than the Opus set, so if you’re at all concerned about Encore’s high-end aggression, this is the wisest choice. The soundstage is more than adequate, and I love the full, rich timbre. The Cayin i5>Encore is to die for.

Only just recently, my principle music player was the AK120II. Opus#2 now holds that position, yet a piece of my heart will always belong to Astell&Kern. The 120II’s audio is like the finest silk flowing over the contours of a beautiful woman. There’s something so perfect and luxurious about it. The dynamics aren’t as high as the other players, but Encore is always willing to handle that for you. Together, the AK120II>Encore is one of the widest, clearest, and smoothest systems you can achieve with human funds.



On any one of these players I detected very little hiss. I don’t want to say there was none, because I think there was some low-level noise. With the exception of the AK120II, whose background is pitch black. But on the others, it was so low-level I had a hard time hearing it, even without music playing. I was under the impression the K10 is highly susceptible to hiss. Does that mean Encore is a little less efficient? I don’t know. Or maybe my ears are going? I heard a metric ****-ton of hiss off the balanced output of the older Cayin N5, using my then-top-set of IEMs, the JHAudio Angie. So I feel I am sensitive to it. Or I was at that time. Whatever the truth, on these DAPs Encore sounds amazing, in balanced, or single-ended. I invite you to buy them all. Not from me. Just buy them.

Well there you have it. Another review. Ya’all were betting I wouldn’t make it, weren’t you? Don’t lie. I can taste your contempt. In fact, this review was more or less easy to write. Encore made it easy. One has only to listen to them, be filled with desire, and put pen to paper. Or greasy fingers to keyboard. Don’t be afraid of your vices; they define you.

Noble Audio’s Kaiser Encore forced its way right alongside my previous favorite earphone. Its performance matches the U12 with ease, and in some ways, bests it. Which one do I prefer more? **** if I know. They are so different. I suspect my answer shall change with my mood. One things for damn sure, I can’t recommend the 64Audio U12 to just anybody. I have to know they are up for a hellish banquet of bass and recessed treble. Many folk can’t deal with those savage realities. Encore, on the other hand, I can freely suggest to almost every person and expect them to fall in love. It won’t be the absolute perfect IEM for everyone, but it will come awfully close. It is balanced for pure bliss, regardless of your bent. You’d have to be broken not to love it, at least a little.

-~::Pinky_Powers::~-

~::I originally published this review on The Headphone List. Now I wish to share it with my Head-Fi fellows::~


:isclaimer::
I was given these headphones free of charge in exchange for my honest review. They were provided to me by MusicTeck.com.

The H9 goes for $500. To learn more about it, check out the following links:

BEOPlay.com
B&O H9 on Amazon
MusicTeck.com

--------------

First, I should probably come clean and admit to having zero prior experience with Bluetooth headphones. The very idea of them raises Pinky’s hackles, and I begin to snarl at passersby. I spend too much money on source gear to bypass all that goodness and use whatever crap in shoved into the ear cups of these kinds of devices. Is the H9 the best? How does it compare to others? I can’t say. I am going to compare them to wired headphones. Real headphones. If that’s not fair, tough cookies. There is no point to a thing like this if it can’t compete with the real deal. The Bang&Olufsen H9 will either be tempered in fire, or burned to cinders.

I don’t feel this will be a very long review. Since it’s a Bluetooth headphone, there’s little point taking about how it pairs with different devices. Well, I mean… how it “sounds” on difference devices, not, you know, BT Pairing… which is important!

I contacted Andrew over at MusicTeck.com and told him I needed a set of Bluetooth headphones because I currently had no means by which to test said function on any of the DAPs I review. This could not continue. I needed a BT solution, and he was the man to see. Sweet Jesus! Andrew was far more eager than any respectable shop-owner ought to be to give away such a high-ticket item. And to the likes of such a shifty person. That boy needs stern oversight, I tell you.

The H9 arrived in a box. Inside the box was stuff. There is an audio cable, just in case you come to your ******* senses and want to hear these headphones powered by a proper player. You’ll also find a travel bag, an airplane adapter, and a USB cable for charging. But any micro-USB will do.





Aesthetic design is high. These are handsome cans. Modern, but very nice. I told Andrew to send me an open-box pair, though the mad goon tried to push a new unit on me. As a result, I didn’t get to choose the color option. The H9 comes in Black and Agrilla. Did you know that was a color? I didn’t. Agrilla!

As far as comfort goes, I have no complaints. They are light, yet sturdy. With sheepskin and steel, the BEOPlay feels luxurious. The pads are big enough for my anatomy and just the right balance of firm and soft to keep the hard parts away from your ears.

There are touch-sensitive controls on the ear cups, which are too finicky to rely on. The documentation swears there is a motion you can perform that will adjust the volume level, but this is simply not true. There is nothing you can do to those ear cups to make it play louder or softer. You must rely on your mobile device to make such changes. I was able to get the track to skip forward or backwards, but as I said… unreliable. I do not recommend using the headphone’s controls, unless you’re a masochist, or hunger for the strife and drama of high adventure.

Bluetooth, as I’ve come to find, is a mottled endeavor. There are skips and dropouts on nearly every device. So for I’ve tested the B&O H9 on the FiiO X5-3, Cayin i5, and the Opus#2. None of them gave me perfectly uninterrupted audio for very long. The best I found was my Galaxy S6, which gave me relatively stable experience. Signal range is different for each DAP. Some being humorously short, like the i5, and some, like the X5-3, startling in just how far you can go before the music cuts out. Volume is another variable. On the Opus#2 I could not get these things loud enough to enjoy. For a digital signal, there can be no justification. But that’s probably an issue with the DAP, and not the headphone.



On top of BT, this is also my first experience with Active Noise Cancelation. Forgive good Pinky if he’s wrong, but I don’t believe there’s any way to turn ANC off without switching the headphone off, thus turning them into passive transducers. When the headphone is powered on, ANC kicks in… and it’s ******* weird. My mother noticed right away, before I told her anything about ANC. It is like a void in reality, a vacuum in which all is silent. It’s creepy. As if a mighty alien presence descends upon you, and stills the Earth for your privet communion.

Fine, alright! It’s not that quiet. But it’s an odd sensation, all the same. When music is not playing it just feels wrong. Which I guess means it’s working right?

Ok, enough of all that. Let us put aside hyperbole and aliens and rents in existence, and discover how these headphones perform as products meant to be listened to.



The Bang&Olufsen BEOPlay H9 possesses a fun signature. V-Shaped, for sure. Yet not so terribly V-Shaped as to bury the vocals. It’s warm and energetic, with articulate detailing and sharp, sparkly treble. There is a rich quality to the tone, though not exceedingly refined, with notable grain and grime to the rendering.

The bass is big and booming, yet kind of cheap in character. It doesn’t go very deep, and lacks texture and resolution. It colors the whole presentation, adding a layer of “less than awesome” to everything. But only if you’re really being critical. The quantity is sufficient to distract you from nitpicking, most of the time. I get pulled in to the beat and lose myself in the music. As I said, they are “fun” headphones, and seldom will you not have fun while they hug your brains.

Vocals are fairly clear and detailed. Not the most clear, or the most detailed, yet enough to give you a great listen. They are back a step or two on the stage, but come through the mix quite well. While the mid section is sort of thin and flat, they do manage a natural tonality with nice crispness.

To my ears, the treble is nearly equal to the bass in dB. A true V-Shape. It is bright, but never fatiguing. Sharp and detailed. However, it is a little metallic, and comes off artificial. Where the highs succeed is in bringing light and air to an otherwise warm and closed-in sound. I should like the treble more organic in quality, but it does its job, and the result works pretty well in a pinch.

The soundstage is small. The smallest I’ve heard in over-ears. Width is narrow, and there’s almost no depth. Not claustrophobic in size, but still… they could do better. Imaging is okay. Kind of indistinct, but not overly. Separation and layering are disappointing.



When taken on their own, as I keep saying, these are rather fun headphones. I found myself enjoying the music, which is, after all, the most important thing. However, when compared to other, wired, mobile cans, the enjoyment-factor drops measurably.

The closest comparison I have on-hand is the NON-BT Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Over-Ear. Immediately you hear a far grander soundstage. A cleaner, smoother, even richer timbre. The treble feels more natural and the bass isn’t trying to murder you for no reason. It’s a balanced, less exaggerated production. And yet, the vocals sound slightly veiled on the Senn, compared to the H9. Imaging on the Momentum is wonderful, and separation is well above average.

Moving on to my current fave, the Meze 99 Classics, and we blow the H9 clean out of the water. And for only $309. These things are like a still pond, the clarity is so profound. The bass is everything you’d want in quantity, and feels liquid, smooth, and wholesome. The vocals have a transparency and naturalness that shames the H9. On the high end of the spectrum, the treble is pure, sweet, and oh so right. Meze’s staging is the biggest I’ve heard in closed-back cans. Separation is top-notch, and imaging is without fault. These headphones are not to be trifled with, and the B&O H9 doesn’t even come close.

Righty’O. So the H9 in Bluetooh does poorly compared to real headphones. How, then, does it perform when wired into a God-King DAP like the Opus#2?

My first impression is, “WOW! This headphone is making that sound? How?”

Apparently Bang&Olufsen put some proper **** inside the H9. These drivers are capable f**kers. Everything sounds considerably nicer. The soundstage is… well, big. It’s actually big. Delightfully large, in width and depth. Tonality is warm, refined, and organic. That strange, awkward treble now has softer, friendlier edges. Most of the metallic character has gone… even when listening to Metallica. The vocals kept everything I like about them before, while adding a smoother nature. We still suffer from over-blown bass, but it no longer sounds cheap. In fact it possesses a fine, chocolaty tone. Separation shot up ten-fold when using the H9 as a wired headphone. There is excellent definition, and all the elements are easily found on the soundstage.

In short, they become whole new headphones when wired. They become good headphones. REALLY good headphones. Their only stumbling block is a low-end that is so over-done it can hurt on very bassy songs.

There you have it! I actually like these headphones for what they are. I like all my other headphones—not to mention IEMs—more than these, but none of those are designed to do what these do. As Bluetooth wireless contraptions they sound good enough not to make me cringe. WITH a wire the BEOPlay puts a big fat smile on my face. Perhaps with something as simple as a strong EQ, these could be well suited for the discerning audiophile. Right now, they are meant for the ignorant masses, who believe all music is meant to sound like Beats. This is a shame, because Bang&Olufsen clearly went above and beyond in their creation. The H9 is superior to Beats in so many ways, and shouldn’t try so hard to pretend it isn’t.

-~::Pinky_Powers::~-

~::I originally published this review on The Headphone List. Now I wish to share it with my Head-Fi fellows::~

:isclaimer::
FiiO did everything in its power to keep me out of this review tour. I signed up for it, waited months, and in secret they started gathering confirmations. I nearly missed out. Luckily, my spycraft is honed to a razor’s edge and I slipped in against their best efforts.

My time with the X5 3rd Gen was allotted on the condition I share my impressions openly and honestly, for good or ill. And that I leave the razors out of it.

We’ll see what I can do.

------------------------------
For further information on the X5 3rd Gen:
FiiO’s website
X5 on Amazon

For a long time I held the X5 Classic (FiiO’s 1st Gen) as the standard-barer for all mid-tier audio players. I tested everything against it, and very few products in that range beat the original X5, to my ears. That changed with the Cayin i5. And quickly changed again when I reviewed the Opus#1. This new breed of DAP has raised the bar awfully high. To clear it, a device must call upon some heinous forces and dedicate its labors to SOUND, above all other concerns.

Right off the bat I’ll say I prefer the 3rd Generation X5 to the FiiO X7. It does many things better, and it does many things different, and of those things which are equal, they are at least more in line with my tastes this time around.





I’m a fan of the build. The X5 is a handsome device. The laser-etched back plate is straight up Astell&Kern. The size is just right. Very palm-able. It’s impressive just how much power and features they pack into this thing. On the outside it sits smack dab between my AK120II and the Opus#2. But on the inside, I think it packs more driving power than both. The buttons don’t bother me. I know some find them problematic, but I had no such issues. While they are placed in unusual locations, I grasped the design quickly and thought nothing of it thereafter.

FiiO deserves special congratulations for including duel microSD slots, on top of the 32GB internal storage. They deserve more than a mere clap on the back. I’m talking all due pomp and circumstance, banner-waving, and bikini-clad girls baring wreaths of flowers. Bravo FiiO! Have a trophy! This is becoming a rare thing to find, and I like to give credit where credit is due. I recall being disheartened when the X7 only had one slot, and I celebrate FiiO’s move in this direction.

On top of that, they’ve innovated the ****** out of these two microSD slots, designing cool little treys which seal the ports when the cards are installed. I LOVE THIS!

The volume wheel is a nice touch. It’s the weirdest one I’ve seen yet, but I like it. The wheel turns with fluid, controlled motion, and no wiggle. It’s minimalistic, unlike the king-hell knob on the Cayin i5, which holds an esteemed place in my heart. Go big or go home, I say. Or go weird. FiiO went weird. And it works.



We are given two headphone outs with the X5 3rd Generation: A 3.5mm single-ended, and a 2.5mm balanced. There are quite a few players on the market using the Astell&Kern-style balanced, and this is the latest to take up that excellent trend. Not that it executes Balanced especially well. I hear almost no difference between the two. At the very least, I can use all my balanced cables without the need for an adapter.

When I met with Lynn for a gear swap and mini Head-Fi meet, he had the clear silicon case on the X5. He liked it better than the black leather. He’s insane. Likely lost his mind after grading one paper too many. The first thing I did when I got my hands on it is switch cases. The PU leather is much nicer. I didn’t find the buttons difficult to work at all. Still, the fact we have two cases to choose from is a classy move on FiiO’s part. Give the “bird”-brains an option they can appreciate. Ho ho! He’ll enjoy that reference.

Now, the software… oh boy, the software. There’s not a lot I can say about it. For starters, from hour one I booted into Pure Music Mode and NEVER came out. My experience with the X5-3 was one devoid of Apps, Internet, Streaming, or clutter of any kind. That might not sound like the sentiment of a professional reviewer. And you’re right. I’m a fraud. I simply couldn’t motivate myself to sign up for Spotify and TIDAL just so I could test those functions for the sake of a thorough review. I don’t care about that stuff. So I pretended they don’t exist, and that gave me joy.



One feature Pinky made certain to test, in spite of my contempt for it, is Bluetooth. Andrew over at MusicTeck sent me a pair of Bang&Olufsen H9 for review. So I can say with authority, Bluetooth streaming works very well on the X5. The distance I got was impressive. Not that I have any experience with this, but I didn’t expect to get out of the room and half-way into the next before the signal cut out. I figured we’d get around a ten foot range. Yet that’s not the case. Also, the H9 sounded pretty okay… for wireless.

But that’s for another write-up. Today we’re talking about FiiO. And I do believe it’s time to move on to a discussion of sound, and what it means to hear with human ears.

They call the new X5 smooth. It is. Coming from the AK120II and now the Opus#2, I’m familiar with the notion. Yet unlike those DAPs, the X5 achieves its smoothness not through refinement and polish, but rather by coloring the sound with an abundance of warmth, rolled-off treble, and sluggish dynamics. It’s smooth, alright. It’s also boring.

Now, now. Put away those pitchforks. It’s not as bad as all that. This device sounds pretty good when paired with the right headphone. Pick a transducer with the opposite characteristics described above and you’ll get a middle-ground that works quite well. The X5 is not incapable of rich, high-resolution audio. You simply need to help it along.

I must give FiiO credit for its ability to recreate clean, artifact-free music. The 3rd Gen is measurably better than the old X5 Classic. I hear none of that “digital” sound its forefather suffered from. This player renders natural, easy-going, laid-back audio. Its soundstage is neither big nor tiny, just a bit smaller than average. More like you’re listening to the music in a living room, rather than a local venue.



There is thickness and weight to the notes, which I like. But when combined with the smaller stage, this makes instrument separation a crowded affair. Though imaging is excellent, you don’t get a good sense of air or space between the musicians.

When taken on its own, the X5 is entirely adequate. It’s when you toss this player into a ring with its more notable peers that you witness the dichotomy.

The Opus#1 by Audio-Opus (theBit) is THE DAP I recommend in the mid-fi category. It’s not a full-android device. There is no streaming, WiFi, Bluetooth or Apps. It’s just a music player, and it whips the X5-3 up and down the street. Okay, that might be hyperbolic, but to these queer ears, Opus sings a significantly grander tune. Not only that, but the OS is simpler and more intuitive, with far fewer bugs and peccadilloes. The music is clearer and more transparent. Details are more evident. The bass strikes harder, with control and texture. Treble has greater presence. The Opus’ soundstage shames the X5 in width and depth. And then there’s dynamics… the X5-3 sounds like it’s right in the middle of a long winter nap next the excitement found in the Opus. On the other hand, the X5 has the volume wheel, and you know I love me a volume wheel. That, and the full Android system makes the X5 a more versatile device. But I don’t really care about that. If you own a smartphone, you don’t need all that other stuff in your DAP. That’s why I bought the Opus#1 as my personal choice for best mid-tier player.

If you still think you need apps such as TIDAL, there is also the Cayin i5. Like the X5, the Cayin is quite warm-sounding. But unlike the X5, the i5 has a strong, dynamic sound that is wonderfully enthralling and terribly musical. After burn-in and v2.2 of the firmware, the sound opens up even more, achieving brighter highs and greater air. Sadly, the i5 is not as easy a recommendation as the Opus#1 since it lacks some of the things that makes the X5 so appealing: there is only one microSD slot and no balanced output. There are lots of reported troubles with streaming services. Yet the Cayin i5 is sexier and possesses superior audio, so you must decide where your priorities lie.

A sentiment has been passed around on the forums that the FiiO X5-3 competes at the Top of the Line level. You see these kinds of delusions sprout from the soil of many new devices, until a few months have gone by and the hype engine grows rusty. People suddenly come to their ******* senses.

I have on-hand the AK120II and the Opus#2. I shall not even go into how they compare to the X5, because quite honestly, the X5 doesn’t compete well at all. The Opus#2 is a small step up over the AK120II, and the AK is a small step up over the Opus#1, and the Opus#1 decimates the X5-3 and… well, you can see what I’m saying. After performing a thorough A/B test with my top players, I simply don’t feel it’s useful to draw this out.

As I said before, unlocking the potential of FiiO’s new player is all about synergy. Find the right pairing, and you can know happiness with this DAP.



The Audio Technica IM03 is a longtime favorite of mine. It fights through the doldrums of the X5 and, on a budget, creates a great deal of liveliness. David Bowie’s Space Oddity is crisp in the treble, clear and detailed in the vocals, and boomy at the bottom. It’s just about the warmest I’ve ever heard these IEMs, but they don’t sound bad at all. Quite the contrary. This paring is scrumptious and I don’t want to turn the music off.

I plugged in my 64Audio U12 expecting this to be the worst pairing of all. The U12, while my go-to IEM, is aggressively smooth and warm. I feared adding a boring, laid-back source to the chain. In point of fact, this combination rather pleased me. The vocals come through strong and clear. There is decent air in the mix, and more attack than I hoped. The major failing of this coupling is it doesn’t take advantage of the U12’s monstrous soundstage. FiiO holds it back in a big way. Yet not so much that I can’t get lost in the musicality of the U12.





Next to the U12, Rhapsodio Solar is fast, bright, and immensely detailed. But it’s not enough for the X5-3. FiiO’s newest player reminds me that Solar is actually a warm and thick CIEM with only moderately extended treble and average soundstage. The X5 accentuates these aspects in the worst possible way. It doesn’t offer Solar enough energy, and the combination is sadly underwhelming. Solar sounds so much better on other devices. It’s quite enthralling on the Cayin i5.

One of the finest examples of the all-arounder in the TOTL range is the new Kaiser Encore by Noble Audio. It doesn’t go too far in any aspect and thus will please most people. It’s also my favorite IEM for the X5. Encore is so highly dynamic, with bright, sparkly treble, extremely clear mids, and tight, punchy bass, you forget you’re listening to a lackluster DAP… because Encore never lacks luster. It brings a big bowl of it to the table.



If you want a good pair of full-size headphones for the FiiO X5 3rd Gen, the same rules apply as with IEMs. Don’t go for a laid-back set. You want to counter this DAP’s natural tendencies to bore you. Look for treble energy, vibrancy, and dynamism. My choice is the Meze 99 Classics. The X5 robs them of some of their brilliance and excellence, but their special virtues shine through nonetheless. Putting on good old Nirvana Unplugged, and I hear the richness I come to expect from Meze. Some of the “crunch” is gone, and the treble is shier than I’d like. Pretty good detailing and clarity, though. Yet the stage is awfully small, and I miss the depth, layering and separation of better DAPs.

Although the X5 is well amped, and will get most full-size headphones good and loud, the Sennheiser/Massdrop HD6XX sounded miserable. Hollow, and lifeless. These have paired so well with weaker devices, like the Opus#1, that the only explanation is dynamics. When driving 300 Ohm headphones, a mobile device needs some way to compensate for not having the amperage of a desktop unit. The sonics need teeth. Both Opus and i5 kick hard enough to bring these cans to marvelous life, while the X5 falls well short. The HD6XX is a warm, laid-back headphone, and chained to a warm, exceedingly laid-back DAP, it’s just… sad. A rain curtain closes about you, and all light seems to leave the world. Before you know it, your hand is penning a suicide note.

Well that’s it folks. That’s all she wrote. Who’s “she”? You’ll never know. I killed her for asking too many questions, and you’re next if you don’t get a rein on that curiosity of yours. What do you want to know, exactly? Why is it so important? What more can I say about a smartphone that doesn’t phone?

FiiO’s 3rd Gen is not the wonder kid who’s changed the game forever. It’s a very capable streaming device that’s fully-featured, with class-leading storage capacity, faultless build quality, and endless potential. It’s probably the best option right now if streaming services are a requirement for you. Tragically, audio performance is the X5’s weakest asset. For my use, there are two mid-fi DAPs I’d take over this one in a heartbeat. But as you know, I’m wrong from the inside out, and my views do not reflect modern trends. Ignore the dinosaur typing away in his dark room. FiiO’s created a newfangled thingamabob all the kids will love. They call it an Em Pee Three Player, and I hear it’s going to replace 8-Track.

-~::Pinky_Powers::~-

~::I originally published this review on The Headphone List. Now I wish to share it with my Head-Fi fellows::~

To learn more or purchase the Opus#2:
theBit (Audio-Opus)
MusicTeck
MusicTeck on Amazon

Here I am, on the very threshold between reality and absolute madness. Some would say we’ve already crossed it. I can’t argue with that sort of reasoning. I mean look at the evidence: Pinky, that delusional pervert from Head-Fi, writing for The Headphone List?! You may be asking, “What evil villain is responsible for this?” That, my good people, would be Flinkenick. Cast thy blame appropriately.

Before I begin this, my first review for THL, perhaps a small introduction is in order. If you knew a little about me then you’d have something to cling to when the fear takes hold. My secret truths could be a beacon in the dark tumult that follows. So heed them well:

I am Pinky.

Awesome. Now that’s done, let’s get on with this.

I must give a hearty call of thanks to Andrew over at www.musicteck.com He let me purchase the Opus#2 for $1,000 in exchange for my honest review. And he did so BEFORE I joined THL. This was based solely on my Head-Fi reviews and my strangely earnest disposition.

Hmm… if you look at it from a different perspective, I’m thanking him for letting me give him lots of money. If I didn’t like this device so much, I might find some irony in that. But instead, I am thanking him, from the bottom of my heart. Thanks Andrew!

Since early September, 2015, my everyday carry (EDC, for us knife folk) has been the Astell&Kern AK120II. I’ve tested numerous DAPs against this high watermark. None have conquered it. There are plenty I haven’t tested. DAPs I suspect would beat the AK in sound quality, if at least by a little.

The reason I’ve never upgraded, or even felt a strong urge to try those other DAPs, is I made myself a promise. I would only consider upgrading from the AK120II if a device gave me EVERYTHING the AK does, but also improves on sound quality and output power.

That means I’m looking for: The same storage capacity. Touchscreen. Great, bug-free UI. Highest quality build, with volume wheel. Duel-DAC balanced output. And an over-all strong product that isn’t plagued with QC issues. At or around $1K (same price I picked up the 120II for).

You can see why I never upgraded. That DAP did not exist.

Until now.

In fact, there may be three distinct players which meet most of my prerequisites. Each one new on the market and promising superior sound and output power: Sony WM1A, iBasso DX200, and theBit Opus#2.

With such devices swimming round me, I felt the itch. I felt it bad. The Sony looked REALLY good, but I loathed the notion of re-terminating all my balanced cables to 4.5mm. Using an adapter, while not a terrible option, is a cumbersome chore I’d rather avoid.

The DX200 was at the time (and still is, to be honest) too new to be sure of. Plus, it’s the one player out of the three which fails to match my AK in storage capacity.

That leaves the Opus. It meets all my requirements, uses the now prolific 2.5mm balanced output, and is the only DAP out of this lot to have a Twister6 review. His DX200 review will come soon enough, I’m sure. But at the time of this writing, all the cards came up Opus.

Another point which held a lot of weight with me is that I just reviewed the Opus#1, and felt sheer ecstasy under the glory of its radiance. It’s the only DAP I’ve heard that stands neck to neck, unflinching, before the auditory perfection of my AK120II. For the price the Opus#1 goes for now, it’s a MUST BUY if you’re in the market.

So with high hopes to billow my sails, I embarked on a search for a goodly price on the Opus#2.

With Andrew’s help, I found that price, and the Opus arrived around two weeks ago, on the 10th of February.





For those of you familiar with my work, I don’t cover the boxing/packaging. Not unless a gun’s to my head, or I’ve been offered erotic delights as an incentive. I’ll just say the box is nice, and everything was safe inside.

The first experiment that came to mind was to try and power the thing on. The battery was dead. Ok, no big deal. That’s not unusual. I plugged it into my 2-amp Samsung microUSB cable. But the screen didn’t come On, and there were no LEDs letting me know it was charging. So I freaked out, and hooked the player up to my PC’s USB port, using the supplied Opus cable. Still nothing. Did I fry the thing, using 2 amps of power? I gave it about 20 minutes of charge time before I tried again, and this time the Opus#2 booted up.

Phew!

I have since used that same 2-amp adapter and cable again, and it works just fine. Your options for charging this player are good and broad.

Boot-up is around 20-30 seconds (I didn’t time this, so don’t hold me to an exact count). Scanning a full internal storage and a full 128GB microSD takes forever. Fortunate for Pinky, I only ever use Browse By Folder on any DAP I use, and this doesn’t require the scan to be complete. You can find a song and start listening right away.

This might not be a big deal for you, either. Because the Opus#2 (and #1) has the world’s best Deep Sleep Mode. In fact, today was the first time I’ve powered it off since I got it. The battery can go something like 2 months in Sleep Mode, waking up with just a quick press of the button. There’s no re-scanning, coming out of Sleep Mode, so this doesn’t have to cause undue stress on your life.

Don’t ask me why, but I love volume wheels. I have a dangerous fascination with them. Now there are so many good options in the wild, I won’t buy a DAP without one. My favorite player, in terms of physical build and aesthetics, might be the Cayin i5. The massive knob at the top has a lot to do with that. The Opus#2 may possess my second-favorite wheel. It’s certainly sturdier than the AK, which wobbled some and turned a little too easily. I like some resistance. It makes the volume less likely to change by accident.



Button arrangement could be better, though to be fair, I’m not sure how. All I know is, due to the wide dimensions of the Opus, it sits awkward in the hand, and from time-to-time I will unintentionally hit the track back on the side. I shall not mark this against the Opus, because with amperage comes size. It’s what I wanted, I keep telling myself. Still, next to the AK120II, it does seem massive and ungainly.



The screen is a 4” IPS. It’s good, but certainly no AMOLED, like my Astell&Kern. In comparison, the Opus looks washed out. But the image is clear and detailed, and does its job.

Coming from the lap of luxury in my old DAP, I am accustomed to only the prettiest of things. The Opus is not exactly sexy. It dresses less for the ball and more for a military assembly. That’s not to say it’s without artistry or elegance. With a full aluminum chassis, and tight, strong assembly, the Opus#2 is utterly top of the line in build. The feel of the thing leaves no question as to its status.



My biggest complaint with the Opus#2 must be operating speed. Just switching on the screen takes a second longer than it should. Regular UI interaction isn’t terrible, but there is a sense of lag that I just don’t experience with the Astell&Kern.

The GUI is quite good. Minimalistic, and classy. It’s the best I’ve seen apart from the AK. Much better than Cayin, or FiiO’s X7. This is on firmware v1.00.03, before they implement the full Andoid OS, with App Store and streaming (something they assure us is coming). Pinky is not looking forward to that. I’ve preached enough in the past, from my high and noble pulpit, on the sins of smartphoning our audio players. I’ve gone on and on about how a DAP should be a standalone device, and a smartphone a pocket PC, and keep the two ideologies as separate as possible. For the sake of the sound! Keep them separate! I don’t have it in me to kick that up right now. ho ho! Don’t relax too much, though! I’m sure I’ll get worked up about it again, sooner or later. After all, it is the gravest plight facing our species today.

Good man Andrew tells me the case which is included with this package is genuine leather. I guess it could be, though I wouldn’t have thought so. It doesn’t look like real leather. Nor does it smell like it. When I lick the hide, I do not taste the soul of the creature it came from. It’s been treated so thoroughly it’s indistinguishable from synthetic. Either way, the case is neatly wrought, and fits like a love glove on a rhino.



So far, I’ve experienced only one crash. It was a hard lock. The screen wouldn’t turn on, and none of the buttons worked. I did not panic because just recently my Samsung Galaxy S6 had a similar crash, where even the LED light remained dead when I plugged it into the charger. I freaked the ****** out! Before I gave up all hope, though, I consulted the Interweb and found out how to perform a hard reset. This also worked for the Opus#2. Just a few seconds holding down Power+Track-Down and the device rebooted.

Right. Yes. I say that about covers the boring ****. On to SOUND!

Sabre DACs are a perilous proposition to anyone who loathes an overly bright signature. If you are my kin, your heart belongs to a warmer profile. Sabre DACs can be thin, harsh, and unnaturally metallic-sounding. I am not a fan of the FiiO X7 for this reason, though it is not the worst offender. Yet when they are handled right, Sabre truly exemplifies neutral, transparent, high-resolution rendering while maintaining a full, dynamic sound that comes off wholly organic. My Audio-GD NFB-28 is one such marvel. I would never call that thin or brittle.

The Opus#2 is Sabre done right.



It’s actually ever-so-slightly on the warm side. Or maybe I’ve been tricked into thinking that because it is so smooth, and with such meaty bass slam. The Opus#2 presents a highly musical, weighty sound that pours out of your headphones like melted butter. It is resolving to the highest degree, detailed like a mofo, with a soundstage that matches or bests everything I’ve tested thus far. The Opus does all this while being the most natural and realistic DAP I’ve had the pleasure of hearing.

The Astell&Kern AK120II shall be my main comparison, since I have it on-hand, and specs and pricing put these in the same league. Not to mention, it’s the only comparison that matters to me, since the Opus is meant to be my upgrade. But worry not, I’ll throw in some quick thoughts on other good music players, for perspective.



During my A/B comparisons, where I use a source switcher to give me split-second access to multiple DAPs, I found the Opus and AK to sound freakishly close to each other. The Opus#2 is clearer by a hair. There’s a touch more treble and dynamism. Vocals are forward on the AK, and more neutral on the Opus. The AK120II is warmer, which seems like a veil compared to the clarity of the Opus#2. But really, the difference is absurdly small. Same note weight. Same thick, full sound. Even soundstage was equal. I tried my amazing 24Bit Beatles re-masters, and even the brilliant binaural record, SESSIONS FROM THE 17TH WARD by Amber Rubarth. There was no track that delivered a winner between the AK120II and Opus#2. The staging was equally grand. Going from A to B, and back to A, all the instruments stayed put, no matter where they were on the plane. Only the vocals moved forward or back a step.

This was via the 3.5mm single-ended output. I don’t have an A/B switcher that runs balanced signal. Maybe I should build one. However, when I engaged in the more traditional fashion of testing—unplugging from one device and plugging into another— comparing the two’s balanced output, I felt the Opus was indeed a little wider. I also felt the Opus might have greater depth and separation. But since I couldn’t verify this with a switcher, I suggest you take that with a pinch of salt.



Just as I discovered with the Opus#1, that extra treble sparkle makes this a better pairing for very warm headphones, like my 64Audio ADEL U12. It sounds a bit airier and brighter than it does on the AK120II, without losing any of its richness and bass. Anyone who’s heard the U12 knows that can only be a good thing. This pairing is supernatural, sounding bigger and more spacious than any IEM has a right to sound. Both DAP and IEM are paradigms of the satiny, refined class of audio. Lana Del Ray’s Black Beauty from ULTRAVIOLENCE is a study in lushness. Together, the Opus>U12 make miracles happen. Especially with a little EQ, which has a much better effect on the Opus than it does on my AK. I’m deeply impressed by the results. A few Db in the Presence Region and the U12 becomes a whole new IEM.

The Rhapsodio Solar is hungry and angry next to the U12. It’s quick, sharp, and clear. The Opus gives it all the energy it could ever want, driving that thunderous bass and sparkly treble to their fullest. Solar has never sounded wider than it does on the Opus#2 in balanced. The notes are clean and thick, the details intricate. Imaging is holographic, immersing you entirely in a well-mastered extravaganza, like Radiohead’s new album, A MOON SHAPED POOL. With the Opus, Solar enunciates a perfectly accurate picture with layers of depth.



One of my favorite headphones right now is the Meze 99 Classics. It’s also the newest, so that may have something to do with it. Whatever the psychology, this thing cannot sound bad on anything. It’s so well tuned. The Opus, being the perfect lord of neutral, exemplifies all the 99C’s best attributes. Where Meze usually rumbles deep, now it does so with control and authority. Where the treble pranced and twinkled, now it unleashes secret stores of passion for the old dance. The vocals have never sounded more crystalline, while keeping their rapturous warmth. There is majesty in this pairing of which I cannot get enough. Listening to the rich acoustics of Nirvana Unplugged gives Pinky the chills.







Sennheiser’s collaboration with Massdrop, the HD6XX, also known as the Massdrop limited edition Sennheiser HD650, gets loud enough on Medium Gain. That’s listening to a modern record. If you put on original masters of classic rock, you’ll need to turn on High Gain. These 300 Ohm headphones actually sound complete on the Opus. More or less. I mean, there is very little improvement from my desktop DAC/Amp, the Audio-GD NFB-28. From the Opus, the HD6XX is smooth and warm. It’s rich, with a delicate, resolving render. There’s a big, live feel to the music. The HD6XX puts out a full, wholesome sound from the Opus#2. And that’s in single-ended! I want to hear these things from the DAP’s balanced output. Alas! I have yet to build all the right cable and adapters for that endeavor.



The Audeze LCD-2.2 Fazor is heavenly with the Opus#2. This is the first time I’ve even attempted to drive these from a mobile player. WOW! Liquid sonics flowing forth with life-changing bass, transparent vocals, and treble you can practically taste. The veil is parted, and you stand exposed before The Soul of Sound and Melody. I have no complaints about what I hear. Like the HD6XX, these sound complete, lacking in nothing. They do not have that underpowered sound full-size headphones get when there’s just not enough juice to fill them out properly. The AK120II does a far less impressive job. My LCD-2 gets loud enough on the AK, and sounds pretty good, but it lacks the weight and dynamics the Opus brings to the field.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a serious step up in quality from my desktop system: NFB-28>Balanced Output>Silver-Gold Alloy cable>LCD-2.2F. No question. However, from the Opus, using the stock, single-ended cable, the sound is still utterly enthralling. One does not feel the loss of the better system while swept up in this kind of audio.

If this isn’t the most inappropriate place in the review, let me throw together some other comparisons. They are from memory, but since I wrote reviews on all of them, and I still have the AK as a cornerstone by which to reference each, you don’t need to completely dismiss what follows.

FiiO X7 w/AM1 Module: Brighter. Thinner. Less dynamic. Weaker bass. Slightly smaller soundstage. Quite revealing and transparent, but not on the same level as Opus#2.
Cayin i5: Warmer. Even bigger bass. Thicker sound. Less detailed, with a slight veil. Not as refined. Noticeably smaller soundstage. Nowhere near as clear or transparent as Opus#2.
Opus#1: Maybe a smidgen brighter. Note weight is a tad thinner. Dynamics are about the same. Details and transparency are not far off. Not as refined. Less smooth and organic. Smaller soundstage.

Well there it is! Look at the mess I’ve made. Try and make sense of that, you grubby peasants!

The Opus#2 by theBit is wildly impressive in a lot of ways. I was a bit disappointed to see that it did not absolutely shatter my AK120II. This shouldn’t have surprised me, as I’ve said many times before how the AK delivers a faultless sound. It’s hard to blow away something without obvious failings. Nonetheless, the Opus#2 is an upgrade in a number of ways, without forcing me backwards on a single point. That’s what I wanted, and that’s what the Opus gives me. It’s a pocket-size DAP mighty enough to make any reasonably efficient full-size headphone sound complete. My TOTL IEMs have opened up to their fullest potential. This little device gives my desktop DAC a run for its money. Well… they do share a lot of the same components. But still, that’s no mean feat.

I’m sorry I can’t compare the Opus#2 against more players in this price range, or above. If I get the opportunity to test them out, I shall update the review. In the meanwhile, I’m going to enjoy listening to the best-sounding DAP I’ve heard to date.

-~::Pinky_Powers::~-

The Opus#2 by theBit
Native DSD Playback
32bit / 384kHz High Resolution Sound
4” Touch display (IPS panel)
SABRE32 ES9018K2M x 2EA Dual DAC
ARM Cortex-A9 1.4GHz, Quad-Core CPU DDR3 1GB
Internal Memory 128GB (External Micro SDcard Upto 200GB)
Full Metal Body (Aluminum CNC)
WI-FI : 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz)
Bluetooth V4.0(A2DP, AVRCP)
Ultra Power Saving Mode

The goal I set out with—the idea that drove me—was to find a set of portable cans which performed well enough to not make me crawl, desperate and hungry, back to my Top Of The Line IEMs. As much as I like the sound of my Sennheiser Momentums, they are simply not in the same league as the 64Audio ADEL U12 or Rhapsodio Solar CIEM. With options such as these, I rarely ever pull out the Momentum 2.0. I have to really, REALLY crave the over-ear experience to scorn my insanely expensive IEMs. That’s not a feeling I like. I want the option to go IEM or Circumaural, and experience equally good audio no matter which way I turn.

You may be thinking, “$300 Senns vs $1,500 U12s? Of course they aren’t in the same league, you fat, balding jerk!”

First off: Ouch! What’s with the hostility? Words can hurt, you know. Second: It takes a lot less to get a big-@ss dynamic driver to reach a certain level of performance than it does a small, itty bitty driver. That’s why so many of the top of the line in-ear monitors pack 9, 10, 12, 14 Balanced Armatures into those little shells. They’re trying to do what full-size headphones manage so easily. Physics be a cruel mistress. And it costs, jamming all those BAs in each ear.

In the end, it pays off. As I said, I have two IEMs that put the Momentum to shame. Yet there are other headphones in the $300-$400 range that do indeed outperform my IEMs. The Sennheiser HD600 and 650, to name a couple. The thing to remember about large, high impedance cans is they are not designed with the same philosophy of use. My HD6XX is really meant for a powerful desktop amp, like the Audio-GD NFB-28 I own. My primary headphone, the Audeze LCD-2.2 Fazor, takes things even further, and utterly humiliates in-ear monitors. You do not plug those beasts into a mobile device and expect them to sound right.

Low impedance, high efficiency circumaurals, like the Momentum, are designed for mobile use. They should sound “right”, driven from a smartphone. But to accomplish this, sacrifices are made. Metaphorical kittens are severed to the Gods. The Sennheiser Momentum is not as impressive in its audio fidelity as the Sennheiser HD600, even though they both cost around $300. Hence I do not put mobile full-size cans in the same category as desktop full-size cans. They are designed for different things. It’s not a fair fight.

My experience, limited as it is, says TOTL, wildly expensive in-ear monitors can compete with mid-tier headphones, even desktop cans. Yet they fall behind, the closer you get to the likes of the LCD-2.

So the question I posed to myself is, “Can I find a portable, mobile-driven full-size headphone for a reasonable price that matches the performance of my $1K+ IEMs?”

I had my doubts.

There are three categories of transducer I want stocked and on-hand at all times.
Category I: Full-size, high impedance headphone meant for a desktop amp. (These sound the best. LCD-2 is my primary, used only for music. HD6XX is secondary, used for everything else.)
Category II: Full-size, low impedance headphone meant for work/mobile use. (These will never sound quite as good. Being sourced by mobile gear doesn’t help matters. Momentum 2.0 belongs here, making this the weakest of the three classes.)
Category III: In-Ear Monitors meant for work/mobile use. (These sound nearly as good from a quality DAP as they do from a desktop system. They are VERY efficient. U12 and Solar sit at the head of this table.)

For a long time the Oppo PM-3 looked like my next upgrade, meant to bolster the ranks of my Category II gear. I wasn’t thrilled about the price. The sound signature, as described in reviews, gave me pause: Not enough bass, terms like “boring” were dropped. Not to mention, they benefit too much from stacking an Amp to your DAP. I know myself well. This would only lead to feelings of inadequacy for NOT doing so. However, all the reviews agreed, they delivered incredible audio quality.

I held off. As inevitable as buying the Oppo seemed to be, I just wasn’t eager to take that plunge.

Then, a few months ago, I started seeing a lot of talk on Head-Fi about this thing called the Meze 99 Classics. Seemed like a pretentious name for a new product, so I ignored it. The Oppo was going to be my next headphone. All my other bases were covered. I just needed that upgrade to my portable system. Then, a little later, I read the Meze was a portable headphone, easily driven by any mobile device. Then I learned about the Walnut wood cups, metal frame, a design philosophy that precludes cheap materials and glue. When at last intrigue drove me to search for reviews, I beheld the great flood. Meze had taken Head-Fi by storm. There’s an embarrassment of reviews out there, and a very great many of them are overwhelming in positivity.

Pinky’s shield of indifference cracked, and the Meze 99 Classics jumped to the top of my list as a replacement for Sennheiser.

It would still be a few months before I bought a pair. There were other monstrosities devouring my gold. All things in their own time. But as I waited for that perfect moment, lust grew in me.

Finally I could wait no longer and dove into the Head-Fi Classifieds in pursuit of a used pair. There is not an abundance of 99Cs on the second-hand market. Folk are pretty d@mn happy with theirs and aren’t pawning them en masse. When one does show up, it sells fast. To get one at all I had to settle on a color scheme that was not my first-choice. On top of that, the unit I bought was modified with various dampeners and filters. All of which could be reversed. Still, it was a compromise. Beggars can’t be choosers, you know; I bought it for $240, shipped.



Allow me this opportunity to say, Pinky is terribly pleased by the aesthetics. I probably lucked out not getting the black and gold version. This thing is dead gorgeous, with subtler elegance.

After only a few minutes of listening, I brought the screwdriver out and opened her up. If I am going to review this product, I need to know how the REAL 99C sounds. So I removed all the modifications: a bunch of foam sticky’ed along the inside of the cups, and a few layers of dampeners in the pads, in front of the driver.

Weeks have gone by now, listening to the legitimate Meze 99 Classics. I have no desire to reinstall any of the modifications. The original owner said the mods level-out the frequencies. No thanks, mate. To my ears, the sonics are too fabulous to 7*%# with.

The comfort of the Meze is at a high grade. These have the larger pads than what shipped with the first batch. Those garnered many negative comments in reviews found throughout the Net. It is about the only bad thing folk have to say about the 1st edition. The larger pads are very nice, and the overall comfort is a step above the Sennheiser Momentum 2.0. Since I already found the M2 quite pleasant to wear, that is a remarkable achievement. The elastic headband adjusts automatically to the size of your head, making the Meze an effortless thing to put on.

I guess you could say the Meze 99 Classics is big for a portable headphone. But it comes with a nice carry case and fits easily inside my messenger bag, alongside all the villainous paraphernalia stored there. It doesn’t feel prohibitively cumbersome. No worse than the Momentum. In fact, I’d like the case to be a little larger, so I don’t need to detach the cable every time I zip her up. You’d think that might cause trouble down the road.





Wearing these headphones, they don’t feel very large at all. If you’re accustomed to cans like the HD6XX or the LCD-2, these feel low-profile and light. Maybe not as light as the mostly plastic HD6XX, but close, and smaller.

The pads, even the newer, larger pads, are not genuine leather, which dismays Pinky to some extent. They are high quality synthetic, though, and feel very soft and pliable. I even used leather conditioner on them, and they absorbed the milk nicely. So I don’t have any real complaint in that regard. I just like my materials as organic as possible when pressed against my wanton flesh.

In spite of the fact the 99C uses 3.5mm mono for its earcup connection, only Meze’s plugs will fit. Due to how deep they must go, and the angle of insertion, there are currently no 3rd party plugs that work. To satiate my obsession with building custom cables for my gear, I had to order the Double Helix Cables 3D Printed Meze Mod. This allowed me to build a cable for the Astell&Kern AK120II’s 2.5mm Balanced Output. I enjoyed the sound so greatly from the stock cable that I didn’t want to tinker too much with the signature. Instead of using SPC or pure silver, I went fairly traditional. Norne Audio’s basic OCC copper seemed like the right move. With their transparent black jacket, it gave the cable such a lovely visual and made a handsome pairing with the 99 Classics.



Clarity is the first trait which jumps at me each and every time I don the Meze 99 Classics. There is a glass-like clarity. Unlike bright headphones, however, this clearness has a liquid quality, instead of a sharp or detail-oriented one. That isn’t to say these aren’t detailed cans. They very much are. Resolution here is quite sophisticated, and the level of transparency is wonderful. Even driven from a mobile device, my music exploded to life with outstanding dynamics. Meze accomplishes all this under the auspices of smooth, silky rendering.



Soundstage and imaging are above average, and might be wider than the Momentum. I bought the M2 in large part because they had one of the widest stages in the portable closed-back arena. Meze feels wider and much deeper. Imaging and separation are excellent. These headphones make it easy to get lost in the performance when you close your eyes, layering the instruments out with visual accuracy.

There is a wealth of bass that measures north of neutral. It’s not the tightest or most controlled bass, but it sounds very lifelike. It feels good and right. The lows bloom, bleeding a little into the lower mids, but not enough to do harm. It merely gives the 99C its warm characteristic. Her sub frequencies punch with moderate authority. Rather than a high degree of texture, the Meze’s low-end carries the same liquidity found throughout the whole spectrum. They are a delight to bask in.

Her treble has nice extension and casts plenty of light over the presentation. These highs possess a purity and sweetness to them. They remind me most of JHAudio Angie’s treble: delicious honey. Yet there’s more treble than Angie gives you. Meze’s highs add so much air and brightness to the stage, without ever leaving the warm signature. Such sparkly treble is the much-needed counter balance to that serious bass. It keeps things open and airy, never straying into dark territory.



For me, the true star of the show is the midsection. Describing the lows and highs might seem like we’re dealing with a V-Shape signature. But the vocals are FAR too present for that to be true. They are front and center and so very intimate. Nowhere does the clarity play a bigger role than with the vocals. They are naked. So clean, clear, and transparent. Here, too, is where the resolution and detail get to shine, bringing out every nuance the recording contains. Above all this you get a heavenly timbre and the most natural tonality. It’s an enchanting experience.

What excites me to no end about the Meze 99 Classics is that they don’t need a desktop amp to sound their best. Driven from a medium-powered DAP, like my AK120II, the dynamics are some of the best I’ve heard from any of my bigger and meaner headphones. Between 75-110/150, I can get them loud enough to satisfy anyone, no matter how quiet the track. My Galaxy S6 has no trouble, either. The same is true for the Momentum 2.0. They are, after all, mobile headphones. But unlike the M2, the Meze sounds truly and honestly complete from my Astell&Kern. The Sennheiser sounds a tiny bit underpowered. When I plugged them into a more powerful device, like the FiiO X5, Cayin i5, or Opus#1, they filled out nicely. The 99C is ready to impress at the drop of a hat, on whatever device you have on hand.



Due to the brilliant balance of frequencies, there is no DAP I would caution against pairing with the Meze. My AK is on the warmer side, while the Opus#1 is an exceptional case of neutral done like a warrior-king. The 99C celebrates the virtues of both devices. I’ve also read great things about the Cayin i5>99C pairing, Cayin being warmer still than my AK. That is Meze’s mastery of tuning at work. This headphone will never sound too dark, nor too bright. It will maintain a balance and sound splendid regardless.

The 99 Classics are of a quality high enough to sit among my desktop phones. The HD6XX, being open-back, has an unfair advantage in some ways, like naturalness. Closed-backs will never sound quite like that. But the 99C matches it in resolution and tonal accuracy. I also hear more sub-bass and greater clarity. Although, the HD6XX has more texture and control over its low-end. The Meze’s treble is not as rolled-off. That lush, smooth, liquid sound is present in both.

All in all, I feel the 99C has more in common with the Audeze LCD-2. Not that it’s closer in performance, but rather closer in character. Quality goes to Audeze by a not insignificant margin. But that transparency and treble puts them closer in nature than the HD6XX, which sounds darker by far.

So what about the only comparison that really matters?

Is there a single area where the Sennheiser Momentum beats the Meze 99 Classics? Well, not really. The M2’s treble is not as sparkly or as organic. The bass is not as memorable or as fulfilling. The vocals lack the clarity and vibrancy of the 99C. Soundstage, width and depth. Imaging. Transparency. Dynamics. On some of these points, the Momentum is only a tad behind the game. On others, like the treble and vocals, Meze exists in a higher realm entirely. The 99 Classics is better in every way.



Did I mention I am a fan of the Momentum? It may sound like I have an axe to grind. I don’t. I’ve enjoyed these cans for over a year. They have a sound I find exceedingly pleasant. Many people in the Help & Introduction forum have suffered my ceaseless recommendation of the Momentum 2.0 Over-Ear.

I’ve simply found a better headphone. If you need portability, closed-back, easy to drive, and high levels of comfort, direct those creepy peepers right here. At $309 you can have a circumaural experience that matches IEMs that cost $1500 or more. When I put on these cans at work, no longer do I feel as though I’m slumming it. They hold their own in a big bad way. No matter what my ears are in the mood for, I have the equipment to immerse myself in transcendent audio.

I can’t tell you how delirious it makes me the 99C are also so easy on the eyes. I love the retro styling of the Sennheiser Momentum, and the Meze have their own throwback elegance. The modern aesthetic of Oppo failed to get my juices flowing. Meze, on the other hand, does me in all the right ways. I’m a person for wood.

-~::Pinky_Powers::~-

I give Nik (AKA nmatheis) many thanks for lending me his own personal unit for this review. This device opened my eyes and changed my thinking on a number of things, and for that, he has my deepest gratitude.

I spent a little over a week with the Opus #1, by theBit (or Audio-Opus, depending on what you read). This was not a DAP I pursued. I didn’t join any tours, for there were none to join. The opportunity merely came along, and I thought, “Hell, why not?” What serendipity, that what amounted to a text-based shrug, would land in my lap one of the best players I’ve ever heard.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me talk about the build first.



It’s solidly made. That’s the extent of my praise. It’s sturdy. It won’t fall apart on you. The buttons work. The screen works. Everything works. But it’s so boring! Where’s the artistry? Where’s the flare? Look at the Cayin i5. It’s so pretty! I want to touch it when the lights go out. That’s the sort of reaction I want from a DAP: carnal desire! I guess I have a DAP that does this for me. It’s called the AK120II. Astell&Kern spoiled me with the level of luxury they offer. Of course, they charge you a premium for it. But Cayin doesn’t. The N5, and now the i5, are stunning, and reasonably priced.

theBit could learn a lot from them.

In my portable music players, I’m more than a little obsessed with volume wheels. They delight me something fierce. I flat out won’t buy another DAP without one. And it seems I won’t ever have to. They’re all moving in that direction now. Or at least a good many of them are. The Opus #1 doesn’t have a volume wheel. Ok. I’m a big boy. I can deal for a week. But that’s not its biggest sin. It’s that the buttons aren’t easy to use. They’re small, and if you have the case on, there are no cut-outs, just impressions stamped into the material. This makes for some clumsy use of the hardware interface.

It’s not an indomitable burden. Nothing like on the scale of the FiiO X5 Classic’s scroll wheel. No, the Opus #1’s hardware just reminds you in small, subtle ways that it’s not as fancy or as nice as other players. That’s a d@mn shame, because it doesn’t sound anything less than a top of the line product.



There isn’t an over-abundance of features to cover. Which is good for Pinky’s stats, since I’m not going to cover even half of the features the Opus does possess. Still, a few items caught my attention.

There are two slots for external microSD cards, in addition to 32GB of internal storage. That came as a great surprise, and I immediately gave it extra points for being so thoughtful. It’s amazing how rare that is these days. It has Balanced output, which, at the very least, I found convenient, since so many of my cables are terminated for 2.5mm TRRS. The Opus #1 sports one of the best Deep Sleep modes. When I first opened the package, the device turned On instantly. It had been On during transit, and yet it was close to a full charge. Sleep Mode is so efficient I never felt the need to turn the DAP Off, and the battery did not drain to any noticeable degree.

As great as Sleep Mode is, you will drain the Opus #1 through hard use. When you do, I am happy to say, it charges very fast. But only when powered up. I don’t think it charges at all when shut off. Even from the USB port on your PC, it takes just a few hours to reach Full. My AK120II takes many more hours to charge, when not using a wall-socket adapter.

The software UI is simplistic yet feature-rich. Finding the settings menu took a few frustrating minutes, however, but I eventually figured it out. You swipe down. Of course you swipe down. But you must swipe fast, because if you hold your finger at the top for even a full second, swiping down only brings up the time and date. That is useless. That information is also present in the full drop-down screen. So making it its own screen only confuses what should be an easy procedure.



Alright. I don’t want to talk any more about features. It’s a fairly bare-bones Android Device, after all. This thing doesn’t care about anything but audio performance. And that just so happens to be what I want to talk most about.

Since I complain so much about DAPs trying to be Smartphones, I feel I ought to give theBit kudos. The Opus #1 does not suffer from a development whose focus and resources were divided and ultimately squandered on idiocy. There is no Bluetooth. No WiFi. No Apps Store. All their money and energy went into sound quality. And OH GOD does it show!

Upon first hearing the Opus #1 by theBit, Pinky’s dwindling follicles were not blown back in awe. It sounded digital and artificial to me, like many budget-fi and mid-fi products. Then I listened to another album, and another, and realized the Opus merely reveals exactly what is recorded, and does so with powerful fidelity. SEA CHANGE by Beck uses a lot of digital filters, and I could hear those filters in vivid detail. Moving on to The Rolling Stones, and you hear all the analogue distortions they use to create their iconic sounds. You listen to an artist who records clean and you get crystal clarity.

In truth, this device is 100% free of inherent harshness or digititis. It feeds your headphones only what is contained within the source file. It is quite neutral, but not the dry, or thin neutral you sometimes get. The Opus is fuller and livelier than, say, the FiiO X7. Yet just as detailed and revealing. The dynamics on display here are top shelf. There is better treble sparkle than I hear on the Astell&Kern AK120II, and maybe a little harder punch down below.

The AK120II is warmer, overall. There is lushness, found most notably in the vocals. It’s thicker, with more weight to the notes. On the Opus the vocals sound thin, but not in that bad way. They are so clear and vibrant that I don’t care if they lack some of that weight the AK produces. In the bass department, either one has ample power. They both sound rich and natural, and very detailed. Due to its brighter treble though, the Opus will seem more detailed.

The soundstage on the AK is wider. I couldn’t tell any difference at first, not until I played my 24bit masters of The Beatles. Those have a great sense of space, and as I switched between the AK and Opus, the difference is plain to hear. But on Led Zeppelin IV, I heard no change. Take this as evidence of just how good the soundstage is on the Opus. It’s properly expansive. Only in extreme scenarios does it fall a little behind.

Despite their enormous price difference, I can’t honestly say which is better. I listened critically, using an A/B switcher, and I feel my choice would come down to signature preference, or headphone pairing. In spite of how much it pains me to admit, there is nothing about the audio capability of my AK that bests theBit. The rendering of the Opus #1 is faultless.



My memories of the Cayin i5 are still fairly fresh in my mind. I had a rockin’ good time testing that DAP. I would put it close to the same level of the Opus. Except it doesn’t do balanced, and only takes one microSD card. That’s a big deal. Soundwise, the Opus is clearer, and will sound much more detailed. The i5 is a warmth monster. Huge bass, thick mids, and recessed treble. I’m given to understand, after burn-in, it mellows out and grows more neutral. But that didn’t happen during my review period, so I can’t say for sure. As a virtue of its signature, the i5 gives you a smoother, richer sound. It probably also has more driving power. By a little bit. The Opus is no slouch here. Not at all.

I won’t even go into how this thing compares against my backup unit, the FiiO X5 Classic. Except to say, I think I’m going to replace the X5 with the Opus #1 if I come across one at a good price on the Head-Fi Classifieds. I didn’t plan on writing that, but now that I have, I gotta say, I think that’s exactly what I want. It would be cool to have a backup DAP that I could take out instead of my AK, depending on how I’m feeling that day. I could never say that about the X5. Between the inferior sound and annoying UI, I never take it out beyond the occasional comparison for a review.

You shall find no bright-sounding headphones in my stables. Everything I own is a degree of warm and neutral-warm. Well, okay, I do have the Klipsch X7i, which is dead-flat. But everything else… Because the Opus #1 is so capable in the treble region, I feel a bright headphone may end up harsh and fatiguing. I strongly suggest pairing with a warmer transducer. None of the below qualify as “extremely sensitive”, but I do have “sensitive” IEMs. I discerned no hissing form any of them. They all had quiet backgrounds and sounded glorious. Apart from the neutral Klipsch, which sounded flat and boring, everything I tried on the Opus came alive as the best versions of themselves. I seriously couldn’t ask for a better pairing, with any of them.



The Rhapsodio Solar… ah, the Solar. My first, and only, CIEM. They have such pure, crystalline highs. I feared what the Opus would do to them, but I worried for naught. Solar is warm, and wonderfully bassy, and the highs twinkle just enough to add detail and keep them from falling to darkness. With the Opus, they are so very energetic. They are fed a staggering amount of information, allowing for superb imaging and separation. I hear more air from Solar than I’m used to. This paring is all about the masterful balance of extremes. Frightful detail and clarity. Mean-hitting, exaggerated bass. Thick and full mids. Sparkly highs. Opus is to Solar as spinach is to Popeye: Bigger and badder.



64Audio’s U12 with the ADEL B1 Module is Pinky’s notion of Heaven on Earth. It’s dark magic. There’s no reason something this warm and smooth should also present so spacious and airy. It’s impossible for recessed treble to also resonate and highlight a wide, organic world of a soundstage. Yet these do. The Ear Lens tech must play a large role in this. Whatever the case, and however skilled this sorcery is, these IEMs do need a rather neutral source. My AK is fine. But if you go much warmer, like with the Cayin i5, they do start to close in behind a veil of sorts. The Opus is the perfect pairing. Yes, it’s even more perfect than the neutral-warm AK120II. This extra touch of treble energy gives the U12 something it craves, infusing the stage with even more atmosphere and space. All the while, the bass is as strong, deep, and marvelous as ever it was. The U12’s vocals are lush and real. On the Opus, they are not as full and thick, yet startling in their transparency.

An old friend of mine, and the one who solidified my preference in signature, the Audio Technica IM03. I call them the poor man’s Solar. They are very, very close, not only in frequency response, but also quality. Those who’ve been around Head-Fi a while know how bitter a reality diminishing returns truly is. I don’t need to say much about this pairing. Just read the Solar section above. Everything I wrote there holds true here, only to a slightly lesser extent. Opus>IM03 is a fantastic combination.





I’ve all but replaced my Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Over-Ears. Yet I just can’t do it. I can’t say goodbye to these. Not yet. Maybe after a year of little to no use I’ll create a For Sale thread. For now, I’ll keep them around and pull the bastards out to test DAPs and such. This decision is validated by the Opus #1. The Opus>Momentum is a marriage made in heaven. What an easy, reckless listen. Nothing refined or elegant about it, just raw passion and delicious tonality. One of my favorite things about the Sennheiser—and a big reason why I bought them—is the size of the soundstage. For a closed-back set of cans, it’s grand. The Opus maintains that staging. It drives the 2.0s with a full, vital sound. There’s no sense of being under-powered here. The bass feels good and the treble shines enough. The mids lack some clarity, but Opus helps matters as well as anything can. This paring can be enjoyed for hours upon hours without fatigue. There is nothing unpleasant about it.

So what portable full-size headphones did a scrotum-punch on the Momentums? Why, that would be the Meze 99 Classics, of course. Conventional wisdom says you shouldn’t look for an “upgrade” in the same price range as the thing you hope to replace. But the reviews on the Meze were so gosh-darn good I had to give them a try. “Better in every way,” is how I like to describe these when making a Sennheiser comparison. They are so clear! There is such a wealth of bass. Outstanding treble! Sparkly, sparkly, sparkly. But not sharp or nasty. Beautiful treble, which casts a numinous light over the otherwise warm presentation. The vocals are phenomenally clean. I mentioned earlier how the Opus renders the vocals with extreme clarity. Well, that is a trait of the 99 Classics, also. Together… words can’t describe it. They were made for each other. I don’t attribute tonality to a DAP or DAC. I feel that is the province of the monitor. The Meze 99 Classics possess one the richest, most natural timbres around, and the Opus #1 allows it to shine by not getting in the way, by helping in the areas it can help with, and not faltering on a single point. Together, the music is often breathtaking.



Knowing I dealt with a DAP which had relatively strong output, I made special effort to remember to test her on my Massdrop + Sennheiser HD6XX. At 300 Ohms and moderate efficiency, most of, if not all, the DAPs I’ve tested can drive them to a level I call “Too loud.” But very few mobile devices make them sound good. Or rather, full and complete. They always sound good. But not always complete. They were lovely off the Opus. The bass is marginally less punchy than from my desktop amp, the NFB-28, but it’s there, in maybe 92% of it’s glory. What about the mids and highs? Just fine. Nothing was out of place. The HD600-650 are not great for mobile use, but if you must, this DAP is more than adequate for the job.



Well that’s it, folks. That’s all I have to say about the Opus #1. The only thing I find less than orgasmic is the physical and aesthetic qualities. And even there, it’s nowhere near “bad”. It’s simply not exciting or sexy. But that sound… oh, that sound!

Before now, I've said I am not a fan of neutral. My experience with that signature could only be described as bright and harsh, or bland. The Opus has shown me proper neutral. The treble shines like a star above the deep, aggressive low-end, and pinned between the two, a gossamer sheet of brilliant, dramatic vocals.

What feels like just yesterday, I reviewed the Cayin i5. If the Opus had that chassis, particularly the gorgeous volume wheel, I don’t think I’d be able to stop myself from buying it this very second. The sound is that good. Only the mediocre build holds this thing back. Which may explain why I’m currently obsessed with getting my hands on the Opus #2, for audition and review. If that creep accomplishes what I expect of it, I will have my upgrade to the AK120II. The Opus #1 came fearfully close. That should make you pause.

-~::Pinky_Powers::~-

::Disclaimer::
Cayin agreed to let me join this review tour under two conditions. One: I must share my impressions openly and honestly, for good or ill. And Two: “For God’s sake stop sending us nude photos of yourself!”

Life is a compromise, and here we are.

::The Review::
I think this is going to be a rather short review. The sonic qualities of the Cayin tweaked my sensitive areas so well I could not find the willpower to refuse it long enough to perform tests I had no interest in. I never opened up a single app. I did not stream from Spotify or TIDAL. Hell, I didn’t even perform a full battery drain to see how long it lasted. Does this work as a USB DAC? Couldn’t tell ya! I just listened to FLAC files stored on my SD card through a variety of headphones and compared the i5 to my other DAPs.

Oh yeah, there’s also zero un-boxing photos. Thank God for other, more professional reviewers, yes?

Cayin’s last player, the N5, is the very example of strong, innovative aesthetics working harmoniously with function. It’s one of the most beautiful DAPs out there, and handles at the top of its class.

The i5 is every bit the superior.



A large, captivating volume knob is the focal point of this design. Right from the onset it speaks of grace and purpose. It turns with smooth control, and is firm enough not to move by accident. The chassis is big, but fits in the hand and pocket. The screen is flush, bright and detailed, and responds perfectly to touch commands. The hardware buttons are intuitive, placed exactly where you want them, and feel just right when depressed.

However, I do have a major criticism of the hardware: One SD slot? FiiO made the same mistake, moving from the X5’s two slots to the X7’s one. If all you have is 32GB of on-board storage, you essentially have none. That does not count as the second SD card. If you’re only going to give us room for one microSD card, you had better give us at least 128GB of on-board storage, like the AK120ii. But since we all know that’s expensive, just give us two slots and be done with it.

With the X7 and i5, my fears have been validated twice now. Moving to a full and open Android device diminishes the overall package. Focus on what’s important: Sound, storage, and interface. Abandon the frivolous. We don’t need Apps, WiFi, video or Bluetooth. Those things are foolish and wrong and are only useful if sound quality is not your top priority. In which case, we already have smartphones.

A DAP should be held to narrower, yet higher expectations. It ought to be a device apart, dedicated to the singular purpose of a true hifi system in the palm of your hand.

Okay, enough proselytizing. I swear.

The Android UI is pretty raw-looking. I feel the software lacks much of the artistry found in the hardware. It’s all function, zero style. Which isn’t a terrible sin, but a little incongruous with just how glamorous the chassis is. Nonetheless, it isn’t too difficult to navigate the options and features here.

Folder Browsing has an unusual bug I’ve never seen in any DAP before. It doesn’t sort numerically--alphabetically if you use brackets around the date.

It works fine if your albums are formatted like this:
1970 – Paranoid
1971 – Master of Reality
1972 – Vol. 4

However, the Cayin gets all confused and sorts the albums randomly if you do it like this:
[1971] Master of Reality
[1970] Paranoid
[1972] Vol. 4

Most of my artists are formatted with brackets, so this “little bug” quickly became the t-Virus, and a good portion of the week saw me running from chompy zompoids.

I spent a few days with the Cayin i5 using v1.8 of the firmware. Updating to v2.0 was frustrating. The Over-the-Air (OtA) update function did not work. There were errors connecting to Cayin’s servers. So I did it manually. The instructions on their website were spot on, save for one rather important omission which led to stress headaches. At the time I read them, the instructions did not state you must power down the unit before booting into update mode. Pretty obvious, one might think. Where the confusion lies is that you must be powered up to transfer the firmware onto the SD card. Given they are step-by-step instructions you would think the next step would be “Power Down”. Then “Boot Into Update Mode”. But no, it just says boot into update mode immediately after transferring the firmware file.

It took me a while to figure it out. I wear this shame like a cloak, warming me against the bitter hostilities of the world.

Firmware v2.0 delivered no obvious benefits to my usage. The sound did not change (good), and the sorting issue remains (bad). I’m sure there were a number of bug fixes, but for my limited scope of use, I noticed nothing new or different.

As I mentioned earlier, in my negligence, I did not perform a proper battery test, but I will say it seemed to last longer than my AK120ii. That’s not hard to do, but I was happy for it, all the same.

During my week with the i5 I noticed two or three instances where the unit shut off on itself. Once it happened when Idle Shutoff was disabled, another time while I listened to music. Never when it had any reasonable excuse to do so. So keep an eye on that.

Okay, that about covers all the technical drudgery. Let’s move on to where this unit really shines.



The Cayin i5 sounds amazing. It seems like it was tuned specifically for my savage disposition. Warm and smooth are the dominant traits. It presents organic, natural music, not music stripped down to raw details and shot into your ear-holes like shrapnel. It all sounds full and rich.

The i5’s rendering is more refined than the N5. I felt the FiiO X5 Classic was ever so slightly more refined than the N5, and now the i5 easily beats the X5. That’s what I call an improvement in fives.

Music is smoother on the i5 than it is on the X5, cleaner, and less digital-sounding. Soundstage is a bit wider, as well. There seems to be greater depth. Both are equally detailed. The i5 just creates a nicer, more honest sound.



Now… the Astell&Kern AK120ii is still the king stallion of my stables. I’ve yet to try a DAP that beats it. I’m sure they’re out there, but I haven’t heard one myself. The Cayin i5 does an admirable job competing against it. Far better than I expected.

Limiting the AK to single-ended output, and using an A/B Switcher, the i5 is heard to be a little grainier/messier. The Astell&Kern is even more refined, with better coherency. Treble seemed less rolled off. It sounds just a touch more natural, the stage a touch wider. I felt a greater sense of immersion with the AK.

Biased? Maybe. But I’d like to emphasize just how little the differences actually were. Switching between the two with split-second speed, it was often difficult to say how they differed. It took extended listening and mighty focus to mark the changes. The Cayin i5 surprised the hell out of me.

When I switched cables and used the AK120ii’s BALANCED output, the differences became much greater. The N5 had balanced, and I expected the i5 to fix the noise issue the older sibling suffered from. Apparently Cayin could not, opting instead to remove balanced output entirely. So the AK has an unfair advantage that, when utilized, brings the potential a good pace ahead of anything the i5 is capable of.

But enough of comparisons, yes? The simple listening of the i5 is such a pleasurable experience. I loved it off every one of my portable phones.



None of my earphones received more Cayin-time then the Rhapsodio Solar BA10. Perhaps because the treble was tamed some by the i5, I couldn’t get enough of the Solar. I could hear just how detailed this player is. Above all, the i5 excels in musicality. Solar filled up like a balloon, delighting in such potent, uncompromised tonality. The Rhapsodio is not my current favorite IEM—that goes to the U12—but this pairing possessed a special kind of magic I found myself drawn to again and again. Solar brought out the virtues of the i5 like nothing else.

I’ve come to think of the Audio Technica ATH-IM03 as the poor man’s Solar. Their sonic presentation shares so much in common it can be easy to forget which is which if you become distracted. Unfortunately, the IM03 is discontinued. But if you can find one, buy it. It does everything the Solar does for the i5, just a tad bit lesser. Eminently scrumptious sound!





My trusty old Sennheiser Momentum 2.0s are still the only portable over-ears I own. I’ve been meaning to try some others, particularly the Meze 99 Classics, but my funds end up down other avenues. Lucky for me, the M2 is one hell of a headphone. The Cayin i5 drove them tremendously well. They sounded full and thick. Even lush! I have to EQ the AK120ii to achieve that result on these. The warm, fluid quality of the i5 works great for the Momentum, which tends to render its music loose and reckless. Charmingly so. But Cayin fills things out with more bass and keeps them in line. I could listen to the i5>M2 all day.

This extra warmth doesn’t benefit everything, though. The 64Audio U12 with ADEL B1 Module is the greatest IEM I’ve ever heard. It’s warm, velvety, and smooth beyond compare. Pairing with the i5 felt like too much of a good thing. It sounded a little congested, a little too thick. Should I have spent much time with them together, I imagine my brain would adjust and I’d learn to love it. But during my brief test, I much preferred Solar on the i5. On the AK120ii, the U12 conquers the field. Particularly in balanced.



Pinky didn’t know what to expect with Cayin’s foray into full-on Android extravaganza. My experience with FiiO’s similar turn left me underwhelmed but intrigued. Cayin fell for a number of the same pitfalls, but ultimately maintained the sense of self that separates them from the crowd. The i5 does not feel like a soulless block of circuitry with a touchscreen interface. It feels like Cayin brought the old artisan techniques into modernity, and did so with exquisite skill.

I enjoyed the Cayin i5 so much that, should anything happen to my AK120ii, I would be VERY tempted to replace it with Cayin’s new masterpiece. Finally we have an offering from this company that sounds as good as it looks. I doff my hat to you, Cayin. Well done.

-~::Pinky_Powers::~-

This was a shameful, stupid, wrong-headed impulse buy… and I’m awfully glad I made it.

Having only recently published my review of the Rhapsodio Solar—a CIEM that still feels new and exciting every time I put it in—I had zero intention of buying another top of the line earphone anytime soon. I suppose the origins of this adventure lay somewhere in the dreadful knowing the Solars needed to go back to Hong Kong for another refit: a process that took two months the first time and a month and a half the second.

Which meant, for the foreseeable future, Angie would regain her place as my main IEM, and thus my main headphone.

Why did this not thrill me? I love Angie’s sound. The notion of returning to her smooth, warm, lush notes held great allure, yet I couldn’t shake this feeling of anxiety. I didn’t want to be stuck with her for a month or two. She’s too big and awkward. For a year I used her as my daily driver, and I loathed to suffer like that again.

It’s why I ordered Solar in the first place. I sought to replace Angie. As it turned out, Solar has little in common with the young Siren, and I couldn’t get rid of her. She possessed a sound I lusted for. Perhaps more so than Solar, with its brighter, brilliant, more detailed treble.

I knew something was up when one day I noticed how I’d been wandering into certain threads with bizarre regularity. Rereading reviews and impressions. The warning signs were apparent. I had shifted into research mode. Experience told me the next stage was deal-hunting, followed swiftly by a purchase. It was inevitable. I was doomed.

Of all the fanciful curiosities out there, the 64Audio ADEL called to me the loudest. Of course I’ve been interested in the Ear Lens for a long time now. No doubt that’s true for all of us. Also, the A12 came in 3rd place in the Fit for a Bat round-up, a fact that’s stayed with me since I first read the article. Actually, based on how it was described, the A12 always fascinated me more than the earphones which took 1st and 2nd place. Now that I have an even finer understanding of the sort of sound I desire, the 64 ADEL looked ever the more my kind of bag.

As coincidence would have it, the entire ADEL line was on Massdrop during this period, with only a few days to go until the Drop ended. We’re talking outrageous prices! Phenomenal deals! Clearly providence was on my side, as the good lord of Abraham watched over me. So I hit BUY and… the U12 had already sold out.

Alone I am in the universe.

A part of me, one that was not actively fashioning a noose round the ceiling fan, took this as an opportunity to save money. I dove back into the forums, searching instead for everything I could find on the U8. After all, Angie is eight drivers. Perhaps this would prove the perfect solution.

The more I read, however, the more obsessed I became with hearing the U12. The reviews I found throughout Head-Fi, and across the net, convinced me this was the IEM to finally replace Angie. If anything could.

But $1599 is outside Pinky’s budget right now. If need be, I could wait until Black Friday for 64Audio’s über sale.

Yes, I could wait, but that is never my first choice.

Head-Fi is a remarkable place. Within a few hours of posting a WANTED ad, I had two Privet Messages. One of which led to the final transaction. For $1050 I acquired a used U12 with the Head-Fi-preferred B1 ADEL Module.



I’m not one for going into the whole unboxing thing. The only time I write about the packaging and each and every accessory is when it’s stipulated as part of my admittance on a tour for a new product. As long as there’s one YouTube video of some kid unboxing the thing, you don’t need me talking about it. Suffice to say the package is nice, simple, and bordering on elegant. I don’t use the protective case it came with, as I have a superior system which better serves my needs.



Upon first holding the 64Audio ADEL U12, I am struck by how small and light it is. It’s closer in size and weight to the ATH-IM03 than it is to either Angie or Solar. I had to peer at the fine embossed writing on the shell and read “U12” before I would believe this was indeed the flagship model. Depending on the tips I use, they can fit flush with my ear. How they got twelve drivers in here, I’ll never know. Must be Time Lord technology. No other way to explain it.

Comfort is top notch. Between the size, weight, and shape, when worn the U12 vanishes from your thoughts. Angie, being so big and heavy, constantly reminded you that her fat bottom hung from your ears. These are far less obtrusive than I dared hope for.

The cable is very thin, light, and flexible. The sort of thing you forget you’re wearing. Unfortunately, I’m not using that cable. I’ve been using a balanced cable that works with my Astell&Kern AK120II’s 2.5mm balanced output. It’s what you would call an “upgrade cable”: OCC, SPC… the Pandora by Rhapsodio. It is very stiff, scratchy, and awkward to use. But it’s balanced and it sounds amazing, so I put up with it.

[Update] I built myself a far, far more comfortable cable: 2.5mm Balanced, 26AWG Litz 7nOCC SPC Now there's nothing about using the U12 that's awkward.



There were no suitable options among the stock tips, not for my ears at least. The Comply foam probably would have worked, but I prefer the immortality of silicon, so I didn’t even try those. During my head-fi journey, thus far, I’ve amassed an impressive collection of tips, so I did not worry about finding something that fit. As it turns out, no matter how many new tips I buy, none work better for my ears than the JVC Spiral Dots, which I found early on in this hobby. To keep the U12’s long nozzle from peaking out the top of the JVCs, I had to create spacers from the stems of other tips. In this configuration, using size-M tips, the U12 sits very nearly flush with my ears. Between the feather-light U12, and the perfect comfort of Spiral Dots, it’s a winning setup. JVC is still King.



So without further ado or preamble, how about we get into how these things sound, yes?

As I mentioned earlier, these used earphones came with the ADEL B1 Module, not the S1 that comes standard. Before 64Audio split from Asius, they shipped with S1, unless otherwise specified by you. Alternatively, you could choose the MAM (Manual Adjustable Module) or the B1. Explaining how all this works will bore me, but in layman terms, the B1 relaxes the Ear Lens, reducing the bass a tad and balancing the presentation.

The B1 Module concerned me. I like my bass, and I like my warmth, and I feared this module would take away everything I wanted from the U12. Credit Card in hand, I was ready to order the S1 Module if these didn’t please me.

And in fact when I first tried them on, they did sound terribly hollow. For a few minutes I thought I’d be placing that order. Then I started tip rolling, and realized I simply didn’t have the best seal. Once I achieved a proper fit, my jaw dropped.



The 64Audio U12 contains a dozen Balanced Armature Drivers in each ear. Four bass, four Mids, and four highs. With the ADEL B1 Module, the U12 is a true warmth monster, but not in the traditional sense. There is phenomenal air and an impossibly wide soundstage for an IEM. Articulation and detail are well above what they should be, given how liquid and relaxed the presentation is. Tonality and naturalness surpass in-ear technology entirely. They sound more like full-size cans than any IEM I’ve heard.

Treble is handled differently than other equipment. It’s subdued in volume against the rest of the mix. Although extension is one of the best. It’s all there, no roll off. It’s merely hushed. This took me a day and a half to grow accustomed to. At first it sounded very strange. Once my brain adjusted, I heard how clear and pure the highs really are. No veil clouds the details. I heard everything, illuminated under a soft immaculate light that felt utterly organic. These are the earphones you buy if you’re allergic to harsh treble and hate sibilance. However, if you demand bright, sparkly treble, look elsewhere. Check out Solar.

If there’s one thing I know in my audio gear, it would be vocals done right. Between the IM03, Angie, Solar, the HD600 and the LCD-2, I feel like an expert. Outside of full-size headphones, I’ve never heard the mid-range sound this lifelike, or this effortless. Again, these things just don’t seem like IEMs. I’m not saying they are as good as the HD600, but god*****t they are closer than they have any right to be. The U12 just sounds taller and wider and less strained than other IEMs. They reproduce that natural quality which makes you NEVER want to stop listening. Which you can do, since they never cause fatigue. The ADEL tech releases the pneumatic pressure every other IEM creates in your ears. Even after a full day of listening, your ear drums don't feel as if they've been hammered half to death.

That mid-range is lush! Silky, creamy, and warm. Yet frightfully clear. Once your ears adjust to the sonic profile, you grasp just how transparent, vivid, and detailed the sound is. The veil you may perceive at the beginning does not exist, and you long for nothing but this signature for the rest of your days.



If you’ve seen a frequency graph for these, then it should come as no surprise the bass stands front and center, so to speak. It’s raised above the rest of the spectrum. I won’t say the U12 is a basshead monitor, especially with the B1 Module. It is too well balanced for that. Not neutral. God no! But masterfully sculpted. I love bass, a lot, but I have been known to go for a completely flat response to get away from IEMs that muffle or bury the vocals. I was happier with the Klipsch X7 over the much bassier R6 for that very reason. Then I discovered the IM03 and learned I could have my cake and eat it too. I’ve been chasing that signature ever sense.

64Audio knew what they had on their hands when they chose to emphasize the bass like this. It’s GLORIOUSLY layered, with sub-frequency extension that goes DEEP and rumbles where you can feel it more than hear it. The character and texture allows every bass instrument to shine in their own unique way. I’m inspired by how diverse every song’s sub-range sounds with the U12. Excluding only the LCD-2.2f, this is the best low-end I’ve ever heard.

ADEL’s B1 Module isolates better than I feared. Not as well as a traditional IEM, but if you have music playing, you won’t hear people talking, or moderate environmental chaos. It takes a good degree of horror to bleed in. The S1 Module is meant to isolate better, as is the APEX m20. Since all I own is the B1, I cannot give you comparisons. Other reviews do that. Go read those.



Oh my god I adore the Rhapsodio Solar! Wait… what review is this again? That’s right. I just needed to get that off my chest. It’s been a few weeks now since last I listened to Solar, and as I do so now, I am reminded of how galactically awesome they are. It is bone-quaking impressive how diametrically capable the Solar is of rendering warmth, brightness, super bass, glistening highs, and full, complete mids. All at the same time. Angie can’t do that. U12 can’t, either. The U12 does warm and satiny, it never does bright. Solar does it all, and does so with exceptional grace. Did I say grace? I meant venom. The Solar is aggressive, where the U12 is relaxed. Its details shoot out at you, while the U12 articulates them in the background, not bothered whether you notice the buggers. Though be not mistaken, they are all present.

Solar is less forgiving, because of those highs. Poor, compressed recordings sound worse than with 64Audio. Solar’s treble is more sparkly and up-front, which can be nice at times, but also vaguely unnatural in quality. This is brought further into relief when compared directly to the super easy and organic highs on the U12, which places them behind the other instruments.

The mid-range and vocals on both Solar and U12 are tremendous, in spite of their significant differences. Solar puts them back a step on the stage, whereas the U12 almost seems to emphasize them, even though I know they don’t. It just sounds that way. The mids are nice and thick on either IEM, with great detail and tonality. The U12, however, adds a warm, smooth, spaciousness to them. It also manages an extraordinary sonorous effect which outshines anything my other in-ears realize. Solar’s rendering, on the other hand, comes off clearer and more detailed.

Solar’s bass is one of its biggest selling-points. It produces genuine sub-bass, which I hadn’t heard in a Balanced Armature before. The overall tone and volume of the low-end is rapturous. I honestly didn’t think the U12 could do better.

I was wrong.

First, the U12’s bass is flat out bigger than Solar’s. It’s also more agile. There are layers and textures here Solar just can’t reproduce. What really puts the nail in Solar’s coffin is how U12 goes deeper. Or at least its sub-sub-sub-bass is elevated higher, so it seems to go deeper. Either way, it’s a meaningful difference that gives 64Audio an undeniable edge.

Apart from a few things U12 clearly wins at, it’s more an apples-to-oranges scenario. Depending on your preference or mood, you could go either way. Most of the time I think I prefer the warm, lush, velvety U12. But there are moments when I get an itch for Solar’s sparkle.



Making a comparison to Angie is more straightforward. Angie does not have Solar’s treble. She remains warm and smooth, and only grows more so when you up the bass dials. At 2:30 on the pots, her low-end is about equal to the U12 in terms of quantity. Which makes that the perfect place to test her against 64Audio’s flagship.

Everything I love about Angie, the U12 does better. Angie is warm and thick, from the lows to the mids to the highs. The U12 is just as warm, and just as thick, yet breathes so much air into the mix that Angie seems stuffy in comparison. Angie is very smooth. U12 comes off infinitely smoother. I ***t you not, it’s scary how smooth. Angie’s soundstage is quite good. U12’s is on another level. Angie has superb mid-bass, but almost no sub-bass. U12 has all the sub-bass, and slaughters with the layering and agility of the entire low-end. Vocals are Angie’s strong suit. They are spot-on perfect. Yet when you add the air and soundstage and the lushness of the U12, I find I must redefine perfection. The treble Angie produces has a rich, sweet quality, like honey. That honey is possibly the only thing Angie holds over the U12. Yet the U12 extends higher, and again, gives the treble that fantastic air and effortlessness.

Forgiving all that and I still have to face the fact Angie sounds like an IEM. A great IEM, but still just an IEM: Small, narrow, squeezed, and claustrophobic. Whereas 64Audio’s U12 has a sound which shares more similarities to full-size circumaural cans. The impression of reality this creates for you is a king-hell crushing win.

It is said the whole ADEL & APEX line was tuned for high-impedance stage equipment, and any audiophile gear you may have, is very likely going to make these sound overly warm. 64Audio recommends Impedance Adapters to compensate. I’ve seen the measurements, with adapter and without; Head-Fi member Brooko performed some thorough tests and shared his graphs. In my eyes, it looks as though for the most part, all it does is lower the bass by a hefty margin. The treble is barely changed.

Because of this, I have no intention of going the Impedance Adapter route. The bass of U12-B1 is utterly splendid.

Everything I own outputs 2 Ohms or less. Even my desktop DAC&Amp, the Audio-GD NFB-28 keeps things at 1 Ohm, no matter the gain setting. All of my equipment sounds fantastic with the U12.



The FiiO X5 Classic made the U12 slightly warmer than with my other gear. The soundstage closed in a little. You could hear the quiet hints of digititis. Overall, this pairing brings more than enough pleasure to satisfy.

The NFB-28>U12 blew my hair back. Seldom do I listen to IEMs from my desktop DAC, but now I question that rationale. It sounded beyond good. The detail, the soundstage, the level of refinement, this setup put my Astell&Kern to shame.

For over a year now, 90% of my listening is done via the Astell&Kern AK120II. And most of that transpires at work. Even though I got this DAP for a hard bargain, it’s still one of the most expensive things I own. I needed a DAP which left me wanting for nothing, one whose audio quality stood above the reproach of my increasingly critical ears. Let me assure you, I bought wisely. This player is the very definition of smooth, with its neutral-warm signature and rich timbre. There are no harsh sonic edges, or symptoms of digititis. Its soundstage is the biggest I’ve found in a DAP. In other words, the AK120II perfectly illustrates the virtues of the U12. If I can’t carry the NFB-28 in my pocket, at least I have the next best thing.

I must admit, I will find it difficult to go back to traditional IEMs after this. The ADEL technology makes too great a difference. There’s no proof it accomplishes the health goals Ambrose set out for, but on a strictly sound and “feel” level, something fabulous is happening here. 64Audio did us all a favor by failing to reconcile with Asius, as they’re now free to collaborate with whomever they choose. Ambrose is already working with Empire Ears, the makers of the current God of IEMs, The Zeus. I’m terribly eager to see the fruits of that union.

In the meanwhile, I have my replacement for Angie. And much, much more. I seem to have stumbled onto an IEM that lays to waste every expectation I harbored. The 64Audio ADEL U12 with the B1 Module is god-tier, and everything I look for in life.

What would you do if you owned a pair of IEMs you loved completely—if only they weren’t so god-awful big?

That’s my predicament with the Jerry Harvey Audio Siren Series Angie. I’ve now owned her just under a year, and sound-wise she leaves nothing to be desired. Everything I wrote in my review still holds. And then some! Unfortunately, her size causes me sorrow and distress in regular intervals, tarnishing an otherwise miraculous relationship.

Modern wisdom says the solution to this conflict is to go custom with Angie, and I very nearly did. Yet I couldn’t shake the notion this was an opportunity to explore something new, something I may like even better.

My passions run towards a warmer, weightier sound. Angie is capable of superb note thickness, but I wanted to push this philosophy even further. The Noble Kaiser 10 almost got my money, its legendary status as a beefy, warmth-monster speaking directly to my aforementioned disposition.

However, the Solar BA10 repeatedly beat out Noble by Head-Fi members who owned or tried both. So in a reckless leap of faith I contacted Rhapsodio.



Big Boss Sammy at Rhapsodio is highly responsive on Facebook—not so much via email—and he took good care of me. Being a life-long artist, I simply had to design the CIEM myself. I sent him some proof of concept images for the look of my custom Solars and he and his team were enthusiastic about tackling the project.



Now, I’m not going to lie to you, Sammy is not the greatest with English. Communication is hit or miss at times. Now and again I must take pains to make certain we understand one another. Although, seeing as I don’t know any second languages, he’s doing far better than me. Plus, he’s very patient with me and willing to work things out until all the details are agreed upon by both parties.

This is my first experience with Custom In-Ear Monitors. I found an Ultimate Ears-approved Audiologist very close to me. She made the process painless, admiring how clean my ears were and commenting on my average canal size… which I felt undercut the praise a little. There’s nothing average about this man’s biology; I’m an experimental mutation the likes of which shall never be seen again.

Wait-time on my CIEM Solar ended up being two months… the first go around. For someone who’s previously only gone the universal route, waiting months for a new earphone is hard on the psyche. So you can only imagine the mental anguish of finding out the left ear piece does not seal well. I held on to them for a week, trying to maintain my denial. Eventually reason won out.

Back to the Audiologist for another ear-mold. And another one-and-a-half-month-wait for the refit.

And the left side is still not perfect!

Placing blame for fit issues with CIEMs is not clear-cut. It could be the Audiologist, the earphone manufacturer, or even your own damn fault. Maybe you tensed your jaw while the impressions set.

The fact the left monitor still does not fit perfectly is fishy. I shall bring my IEMs into the Audiologist and try to figure out what’s going on here. I CAN achieve a good seal. It just doesn’t last like a custom fit ought to. You needn’t worry that my review is compromised by sub-par audio. I’ve put a couple hundred hours on these with absolute perfect seal. I know what these truly sound like.

Who’s at fault over fit issues may be a gray area, but it’s far easier to blame Rhapsodio for the adventure I’ve had with the cable.

During our very first correspondences I stated my want for a 2.5mm TRRS Balanced cable. I went so far as to put that info, along with other specifics, in the PayPal notes upon purchase. I wrote a lovely letter that traveled with my ear impressions across the ocean which also made reference to the type of termination my cable should have. I made further comments about it during the many Facebook chats I enjoyed with Sammy.

The first time my Solars arrived they came with a 3.5mm TRS cable. I laughed. Sammy Laughed. When they came back after the refit, it still only had a 3.5mm TRS cable. I groaned, and Sammy cried. He decided to build me a special cable with a special new connector he found. Sammy claimed it changed the sound in a way he was very excited about.





It’s a fine bit of work to be sure. The only thing different is the termination, and yet he’s right, it does sound truly different. Even when I use my 2.5mmTRRS-to-3.5mmTRS adapter, to rule out my AKs balanced output as the culprit, there is indeed a change. It sounds a tad clearer than the other cable, but the bass is audibly lower, which I’m not a fan of.

The volume in general is also lower, which should not be, since my AK120ii puts out more voltage through its 2.5mm output. There must be a ridiculous amount of resistance in this jack. Unfortunately, the lack of bass is not an illusion due to the lower overall volume. When I volume match, and listen critically, the lows are lessened by a serious margin.

I think I’ll re-terminate this new cable myself when I find the motivation. For now I’ll stay with the single-ended 3.5mm cable.

The standard Pandora cable is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship and right sturdy, but I don’t like how stiff it is, or the rough texture coating each strand.

Sammy also turned my regular old standard Solars into FarInfrared Solars, which involves placing magic stickers on the driver clusters inside the shell. It’s meant to make the sound cleaner, with better extension. But no one can explain how or why. Since so much time past during the refit, I’m in no position to give a reliable comparison between the two versions. I loved them before, and I love them now. The stickers are pretty though.



Which makes this a good time to talk about how these buggers actually sound, yes?

The Rhapsodio Solar BA10 delivers a full, bassy presentation, with enough treble to maintain good air and detail. The vocals stand back a pace on the stage, letting the lows and highs swell around them to wonderful effect. Very much like a live rock concert. Solar uses ten Balanced Armature drivers: A pair of large drivers for bass. Four medium-size boxes dedicated to the middle spectrum. And four tiny tweeters administer the highs.

I cannot call the Solar v-shaped. The Klipsch R6 is v-shaped. In contrast, Solar is artfully done, as you never lose the vocals, no matter how much bass exists on the record. Like I said before, the mids simply take a small step back, nowhere near enough for the other frequencies to bury them.

Nonetheless, the Solar’s bass is its defining quality. It blooms and rumbles deep into the lower reaches. It’s fast and smooth and remarkably natural in tone. It sounds more like a dynamic driver than a BA. Such warmth swaths the music, creating a tangible, earthy presence.



You would expect earphones like this to be dark in balance, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Solar’s treble pierces the gloom in clear, bright highs that sparkle like a pearl in sunlight. The treble is clean and honest, widening the soundstage and revealing all the subtle complexities of the track. Upon first hearing Solar, I marveled at how much air there was, given the amount of bass and the thickness of the sound. Those highs truly elevate it above the murky fenlands that often come from too much sub frequency in the mix.

Terms like “recessed” are misleading when talking about the Solar’s vocal range; you can hear them perfectly. There is detail, grit, and vibrato. They sound true and right. With Rock & Roll, they could not be placed better in the mix. Still, if you are a purist at heart, and hold neutrality at top priority, then Solar is probably not for you, as they are tuned for fun and pleasure-listening, not professional/critical-listening.


Solar and AK120ii secure in my Pelican 1060 case, with 1062 foam insert.



I’m cobsmacked at how much the Solar sounds like my early favorite, the Audio Technica IM03. Yes, Solar is much thicker, and noticeably more detailed, yet bass punch and treble sparkle are nearly the same, with Solar just barely edging ahead. Overall balance and tonality are very alike. The IM03 is just a little closer to neutral with the vocals. The Audio Technica is one of the most natural-sounding earphones, and Solar does not necessarily beat it here, but rather matches that high grade.

Jerry Harvey’s Angie has been my closest companion for so long now. She sings with a voice I fell in love with upon first hearing it. Even after weeks and weeks with nothing but Solar in my ears, when I come back to Angie, I don’t know which I like more. Each does a couple of things better than the other.

My preference is to keep Angie’s bass attenuators at 2:30, giving her a warm, bassy profile, without losing detail or air.

Although Solar has two drivers more than Angie, note thickness and weight are about the same, both much fuller than the IM03. Angie is capable of nearly the same volume of bass, but Solar reaches deeper into the sub bass and the lows come off fuller and richer because of it. Amazingly, Solar also possesses FAR greater air in the presentation. Even when I turned Angie’s pots all the way down, Solar sounded brighter, with a better sense of space and atmosphere. This is likely due to Solar’s outstanding treble. I’ve always praised Angie for having clean, well-extended highs, but Solar adds some real sparkle to its top frequencies, and that makes a world of difference here. It brightens the stage up, revealing details Angie might miss.



So you may think by the above paragraph that I clearly favor Solar, but as I’ve said, it’s not quite so easy for me. Angie is smoother and lusher. Probably owing to its lack of sparkle. Every detail is not highlighted, rendering a more forgiving melody. Angie is not dull or muddy. FAR FROM IT. Though compared to Solar, she’s certainly the easier, more euphoric monitor. She pours honey in my ears and I love her for it.

I planned to sell off Angie when the Rhapsodio Custom came in, but I’m not sure I can do that. Her size really is a detriment, but if I don’t have to use her as my every day carry, maybe I can keep her around for the occasional sexy fun time when I lust for that old honey again.

In the meantime, The Rhapsodio Solar FarInfrared BA10 CIEM suits my needs splendidly. It is a killer earphone and I can’t recommend it enough. The same goes for Rhapsodio as a company; Sammy helms a magnificent ship over there in Hong Kong. While it may be young, Rhapsodio has grown mighty, and I look forward to seeing where next it sails.

-~::Pinky_Powers::~-

-::The Review::-
That dread sickness returned to my mind and I found myself looking for an upgrade to the Sennheiser HD600. I didn’t quite know what to expect. I mean, the HD600 is a king slayer, so what would “better” sound like?

Research, led by a passion for a warmer signature, brought me to the LCD-2.2 Fazor, by Audez’e. I had long coveted this headphone for its appearance, and now I learn its sonic performance may be equally alluring. The more I read, the more I wanted it, and the more I felt it deserved better than my current DAC & Amp. The Maverick Audio TubeMagic D1 Plus is a wonderful unit for the price and served me well, however, the LCD-2 deserves a fully balanced unit, and a DAC that doesn’t up-sample.

So… more research.

While I looked into a new desktop system, I kept an eye on the Head-Fi Classifieds. It wasn’t long before an LCD-2 appeared at a price I couldn’t pass up. As is always the case, I wasn’t planning on making this purchase right away. But once you start looking, opportunities pop up frightfully fast.

$650 and it was mine.



I also placed an order for a 2016 model NFB-28 Amanero by Audio-GD. Though, that may have been a little later. I seem to recall it all happening in quick succession. I can’t remember! The sickness clouds the mind!

Either way, the LCD-2 arrived first. I had about a week to test it on the Maverick in single-ended. It immediately impressed me, but didn’t quite sound like the huge upgrade I expected. The LCD-2 is clearer, smoother and more detailed than the HD600, and nothing quite measures up to that Planar sound-wall experience. I was not, however, utterly blown away.

That changed when the NFB-28 came in the mail.



I didn’t have an XLR Balanced cable yet, so for a few weeks I enjoyed my LCD-2 on the NFB-28 in single-ended. This alone was a massive upgrade over the Maverick D1 Plus. The HD600 sounded better as well, but nowhere near as spectacular as the Audeze LCD-2.2 Fazor. It outstripped the Sennheiser by a country mile. Its sound felt much weightier, richer, and more detailed, like the LCD-2 was now getting all the things it hungered for. It’s a voracious beast. Feed it the best source you can get your hands on and the LCD-2 will scale endlessly.

When at last I assembled the Balanced copper OCC cable, my Audeze was unlocked to its full potential. It didn’t change drastically. That’s not what balanced does. It simply increased in transparency, separation, and soundstage. Basically, the equipment disappears more or less completely, and the music is all that’s left. This is the same impression I get with my JH Audio Angie playing from the Balanced Output on the Astell&Kern AK120ii: The veils are parted and you’re brought fearfully close to the naked soul of Sound and Melody.



The Audeze LCD-2.2 Fazor is awe-inspiring in its clarity. There’s absolutely no grain, which highlighted for me just how grainy the HD600 is. In contrast, the Sennheiser almost sounds dirty, a thing I would never have said before. The LCD-2, especially in Balanced, has clean, glass-like audio.

Tonal quality and naturalness is equal, the HD600 being a titan in this field, and the LCD-2 keeping up nicely. Only the LCD-2 produces those tones with a richness and depth that’s new to me. A warm weight imbues the presentation. It’s chocolaty and luxuriant.



The Audeze’s detail and resolution puts to shame everything else I own. It’s the cliché of clichés to say I hear things in my music I never heard before, but **** me! These Planars can do things Dynamics can only dream of. You wouldn’t think a laid-back headphone would excel in detail, yet these render all for your enjoyment. The details simply aren’t forced upon you, as with more aggressive headphones.

Going hand-in-hand with detail is imaging and separation. I doubt they’d be half so accurate without that resolution. As it stands, every element on the track can be heard on its own and located on the stage. There’s so much air and space around each piece it seems like a physical object. I feel as if I could pick an instrument up and move it at will.

Treble is nice and extended. There’s a lot more of it than I expected from a “dark” headphone. The highs are very present, giving air and space to the LCD-2’s signature and banishing any sense of claustrophobia that can occur with very warm phones. There is a subtle sparkle to the highs, yet they are not prone to sibilance. Even old-school Metallica can crash and blear without a messy shimmer distorting the cymbals.

Everyone’s heard about the LCD-2’s bass. You’re probably reading my review because you’re looking for an open-back set of cans capable of beefier bass than you’ve been able to find thus far. Well, the LCD-2’s sub frequencies are marvelous to experience. They have impact, character, texture, and speed. Indeed, I would say the virtues of the bass give the LCD-2 the greater portion of its identity. A velvety tone “colors” the sound to a most splendid effect. And yet I refuse to call them bass-heavy, because everything is in such wonderful balance. I do not get the impression the bass is dominating the other frequencies, in spite of what I said about identity.

This must be part of how Audeze rose so fast in the industry: Giving us bass of this quality without betraying neutrality or muddying the whole.



I’ve called the LCD-2.2 Fazor the perfect upgrade to the HD600, as it does everything the Sennheiser does, only better. Some would say it’s more of an upgrade to the HD650, due to the warmth and bass presence. Maybe. I’ve not had the chance to audition those. Still, if you look at the frequency curve, there is no mid-bass hump on the LCD-2. It’s flat. Which makes it very much like the HD600. The perfect upgrade.

This holds true in most respects, including the mids/vocals. You can’t really do better mids than the HD600, when taken on their own. They’re sort of flawless. But when you take all the other things the LCD-2 does and apply those effects to the vocals, they are a bit fuller, a bit more detailed, and a bit cleaner. Therefore, the mids are, if I dare to say it, “better” on the LCD-2.

Forgive me, Lords of Kobol!

When you are accustomed to IEMs and feather-light headphones like the Sennheiser HD600, or Momentum 2.0, these cans feel like a hundred pounds sitting on the top of your head. My cranium and neck muscles required a couple of weeks to strengthen before I could use the LCD-2 for more than forty minutes at a time. Now I feel rather comfortable wearing them. I’ll never forget they’re on, like I do with the HD600, but at least the fatigue has gone away.

But I’m a big burly bear. If you’re on the petite size, these may crush your brains, or compress your vertebrae into powder. Consult your physician about a Weapon X upgrade.

I’m a fan of leather pads. I’m also a fan of velour, or whatever the screw the HD600 uses. Leather is trickier, though. You don’t want to wear it if you’re sweating, or even if you just came out of the shower. So my enjoyment of headphones like the LCD-2 or Momentum 2.0 Over-ear is hindered by certain conditions. Audeze sells Microsuede Vegan Pads, but I like the leather so much I doubt I’ll bother. My heart fills with dark pleasure knowing the Planar Drivers are cushioned against my head by the flesh of what was once a living, breathing miracle.

The warranty card for my set gives a manufacture date of November 2014. This is an older 2.2 Fazor, before the driver revision which, as espoused by some Head-Fi’ers, finally makes the Fazor model sound “good”. I can’t comment on the newer versions, but my model leaves nothing to be desired. It has a sound that matches the aesthetics. By that I mean, when I look upon that gorgeous wood, rich lambskin leather, and solid black metal, I imagine what quality of sound must come from a thing of this craftsmanship.

Let me assure you, Pinky is not disappointed. The Audeze LCD-2.2 Fazor may be my final headphone. After more than six months with it, I have no desire to seek “better”. Every time I put them on, I am wowed all over again. What more could I ask for?



~::Update::~
Built myself a silver-gold alloy cable. Sounds sharper still, with better defined treble. Slightly less bass, which does cause me to EQ sometimes.

::The Review::
The Audio Technica IM03 was my first multi-driver earphone. The Klipsch X7i delivered a satisfying sound, but I sought a less microphonic cable arrangement. Behind-the-ear wrap seemed likely to solve this. Plus, I admit to some curiosity as to the sonic benefit three Balanced Armatures might deliver.

I first bought the IM03 almost a year ago, now. Two months shy, actually. I say “first bought” because I returned the first pair. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me slow this down and tell you a story…



When the IM03 arrived, it was marvelous to behold. While significantly bigger than the Klipsch, it fit flush with my ear. I fretted over tips for a time. This was unsurprising. I considered myself a veteran of tip rolling, since I did much of that with both the Klipsch R6m and X7i. The stock tips for the IM03 were down-right painful, and did not seal well. If I remember correctly, I had prepared for this and ordered the Sony Hybrid tips at the same time as the ATH. They arrived a day or two later, since Amazon didn’t stock them.

The Hybrids made the IM03 quite comfortable. As comfortable as the cable would allow (We’ll get to that later). By this time I was already using the Dragonfly DAC with my Galaxy S4. With proper amplification and a capable DAC, the sound quality of this earphone overwhelmed me. The layering and depth is outstanding, the timbre wholly superior to the X7i. Perhaps the IM03 has a little less detail, or maybe it just seems that way because it’s so much warmer and bassier. Audio Technica is the first headphone that gave me an understanding of what “air” meant in audio. The IM03 has a great sense of it, despite all the warmth and bass. I call them my Live Headphones, because they make you feel like you’re hearing the music live in concert. The tuning is spot on for this.



All was not perfect in the Garden of Auditory Bliss, however. A snake did lurk, with a protracted Sssss. The IM03 produces sibilance on some music. Most of my library was free of this hateful noise, yet albums with a natural brightness to them (Art Pop, Master of Puppets, etc…) distorted into an unlistenable mess. Vocals, Cymbals, all turned grotesque at a certain pitch.

It took weeks for this annoyance to become a source of depression for me, which climaxed when I bought my first DAP, the FiiO X3ii. On this machine, the IM03 sounds like the lusty cries of a deranged moose… underwater, and half drowned. By that I mean it sounds really, really bad. The Klipsch X7i works beautifully with the X3, but not my favorite earphones? What the F?! This, on top of that god-awful sibilance? No. Just… no. I loved these IEMs, but now I also hated them a little.



A whole day before the cutoff date, I decided to return the IM03 to Amazon, ordering a used set of IM04s to replace it.

This solved one of my problems. The IM04 sounds fantastic on the X3ii. Also, most of the sibilance was gone. But not all. Not yet. A few days into owning the IM04, I ordered a box of JVC Spiral Dots, because when you’re knee-deep in the IEM game you’re always buying new tips with which to experiment. It’s a mini-game one must play or lose the war-proper.

JVC’s Spiral Dots changed everything for me. I continue to use them with all my upgrades, including my top of the line earphone, the JH Audio Angie. That pesky sibilance fled like vermin escaping the fumes of an overly zealous pest-control specialist. Spiral Dots seal better, and stay secured in-ear. The wide bore opens up the sound in a remarkable way, expanding the soundstage and breathing air into the recording.

The following month is a tumultuous affair, in which I upgrade DAPs to the FiiO X5 Classic, discover the X5>IM04 pairing too dark, leading to a return of the IM04, yet again, just before cutoff date, culminating in Pinky surviving two Amazon Assassins sent to neutralize an especially troublesome customer. For an in-depth look at this weird ride, read my X3 and X5 reviews.

My heart could not deny the IM03 possessed the perfect tonal signature. It was warm and bass-y like the 04, but there was enough treble to infuse the sound with air and space. I missed it something awful. With the Spiral Dots in my arsenal, I thought just maybe I could tame these magnificent IEMs.

So I reordered the IM03, this time opting for a used pair. Perhaps the very ones I returned. Wouldn’t that be cool?



All my hopes and dreams came true. The 03 made a tremendous pairing with the X5 Classic, and the JVC tips smoothed out those dangerous frequencies. This system is special to me. Even though I’ve moved on to bigger and more expensive things, I can’t imagine selling the X5>IM03 package. If a wrathful rhino ruined my AK120ii>Angie pairing, I would still have a miraculous system on the go. What a ******* shame they don’t see more use. I ought to be punished. Allow me to disrobe.

You may have misgivings over whether or not the IM03 will synergize with your audio source. And you should. It’s not that they are obsessively picky. They aren’t. But when they find a source they dislike, these in-ears can sound vile. As I understand it, the issue lies with the output impedance of the device you’re plugging into. You want nice low impedance. If it’s too high, the IEMs sound dark, mucky and an all-around mess.

However, you needn’t fear too much. Of all the devices I’ve tried, very few had a problem. The X5 Classic works perfectly. The X7 sounds every bit the upgrade you’d expect. The Cayin N5 was a marriage made in heaven. The AudioQuest Dragonfly was how I first fell in love with the IM03 in the beginning. Nothing I’ve yet tested quite reveals their potential like the Astell&Kern AK120ii. Even the Shanling M2, with its relatively high output impedance, rendered a splendid melody. Angie didn’t fare so well, but Audio Technica did.



Only a few instances and pairings failed to please me. My old desktop amp, the Maverick Audio TubeMagic D1 Plus was altogether too much for these IEMs. Yet my current desktop unit, the Audio-GD NFB-28, is apparently civilized enough for the 03.

One other area of concern with sourcing the IM03 is amperage. They don’t need much power to get loud, but they have been known to sound dull when driven by smartphones. I’ve tested this myself. From my Galaxy S6 they lose a lot of the dynamics that give them so much of their personality. From a DAP, really any dedicated source device, they have enough power to sound full and alive. By no means do you need a secondary amp to power these, not if you’ve got even a lower-midrange player.

I have nothing against memory wire, but its implementation here is horrendous. It’s too thick, too heavy, and that bulb at the end causes more problems than it solves. It’s uncomfortable and awkward. I fought with it for two months, trying to figure the trick to it. Finally I just bought a cheap replacement cable from China, which was a disgrace to the IM03. I could hear them weeping, alone and disused. So recently I built my own Silver Plated OCC Litz for my dear backup IEMs.



Yes, I’ve moved on to top-tier headphones. And yes, they are indeed better than the IM03. But let me tell you, each and every time I put them back in, I do not pine for the nicer earphones. The sound from the IM03 is so RIGHT my whole body relaxes into it and I want to just listen for hours. For me, there is a kind of perfection in them. They remain to this day the incorruptible paradigm of the signature I look for in audio equipment.

-~::Pinky_Powers::~-

::Disclaimer::
The great and devious nmatheis conscripted poor Pinky into the US Tour for this Shanling DAP, the M2. I review it now, with no financial incentive or affiliation with the manufacturer. What follows are my impressions, which are as free from reason, rational thought, or objectivity as is possible in the human character.

::The Review::

Shanling’s design work on this line is everything I want from artists. It’s bold, unique, and a little silly—especially the M3. I approve. Make it your own, I say!






All the buttons are solid. The wheel wears many hats and is very accurate in navigation and selection. It turns with ease while avoiding a loose, ramshackle property. I’m reminded of Cayin’s N5 wheel, only not as hansom.

I have some affection for the UI. It’s very easy and direct. The themes are a nice touch, and I found one that vibed with my disposition. That said, I feel the M2 resents me, employing its own form of passive-aggression in the hopes of breaking my spirit. Like when I’m listening to a song and decide to meander through the settings. I must keep moving, never pausing to contemplate a particular feature. If I do sit on a menu for an entire eight seconds, Miss Shanling will penalize this indecisiveness by throwing you back to the Now Playing screen, and be all like “What? You weren’t done?” “No B****, I wasn’t!”

A fantastic deep Sleep Mode lets you keep this DAP turned on for days and days before the battery dies. It just hibernates forever, and then kicks back on in half a second when pressing the power button. Actually, the M2 was in Sleep Mode when the last reviewer shipped it, with plenty of battery left over when I received the package.

That’s enough of all the boring stuff. I didn’t test USB DAC functionality, or whether it would float when dropped in a lake, thus proving it a witch. We know it’s a witch. No need to stand on ceremony.

Time for… SssOUuunD!

The Shanling M2 has a clean, neutral-warm sound that is laid back and very easy on the ears. I was impressed with the soundstage. A/B testing left me convinced it’s even wider than the X5 Classic. In fact, it’s overall signature and tone is frightfully close to that of the X5. I’d struggle to tell them apart in a blind test. The FiiO represents details better… maybe, but holy hell are they close.

Digititis plagues the M2 in small, subtle ways. It’s like the rainbow shimmer in a pool of motor oil, spread out over the entire spectrum. It’s artificial and unhealthy. Your ears aren’t drenched in it, but you can hear it glistening on the edges of every note. This is common in the price range. You can’t expect that high-grade analogue quality of the TOTL players and it’s not so bad as to ruin the experience.

Nothing too heavy was tested, but most of my efficient or small phones paired beautifully. The Audio Technica IM03 is my favorite. So full and natural with that “live in-concert” feel. The Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 On-Ear is a close second. They render a wide, airy, reckless sound, yet the M2 smoothed them a little in a very pleasant manner. The Klipsch X7 is utterly at home with this DAP. They pull out every detail and revel in the width of the staging. I had forgotten just how capable the Klipsch are at such things.



Now… When I use a sensitive IEM with a multitude of Balanced Armatures, like the JH Audio Angie, an abundance of warmth descends upon your music. I’ve been told this is due to the moronically high output impedance, which plays havoc with IEMs of this category. It sounds flat-out dark. Everyone knows the X5 is warm, but next to this my FiiO felt airy and sharp. It feels like a blanket lay over the music. You can sense the air and upper registers muffle, the clarity goes away and many of the details dim out. I haven’t felt this suffocated since listening to Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black on the ATH-IM04, sourced by the X5 Classic. Talk about dark on dark on dark. The Shanling does this to Angie of all phones, at only 2 o’clock on the bass pots, playing Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors. That’s beyond madness!



I dock them two stars for that alone, as an unforgivable sin.

So be warned if you intent to ever own a sensitive IEM like so many of the top phones. The Shanling M2 is simply not meant for them.

I don’t have a great deal more to say. During the week I had the tour unit, I didn’t manage too much time with it. Not being able to use my best IEMs with the M2 drove me into the wanton embrace of more desirable gear. So you could say I was a bit neglectful of my tour duties. Certainly take that into account as you meditate on my profound wisdom.

Really, there’s only a few things that sets this DAP behind the X5: One card slot. Less driving power. Stupidly high output impedance. If I had to choose, I’d go with the X5. But when you compare the M2 to the X3ii (closer prices), now I see a much easier victory. I would absolutely take the Shanling.

-~::Pinky_Powers::~-

Sometimes there’s this manic impulse that takes hold and makes me buy stuff at the drop of a hat. I wrestle with it all the time. A horrible need reveals itself for that missing piece of your system, and suddenly you can’t sleep until you place that order.

I can’t give you a logically compelling narrative as to why I bought these headphones. I’m just glad I did.

Most of my listening is done at the office, where I sit at a bench all day working with my hands on electronics, testing, repairing, etc… Most of the time it doesn’t take a great deal of thinking. For the first nine months at this job, I was alone with naught but my thoughts, day after day, as my hands toiled. There are no words to describe how darkly weird and kinky it is inside the rickety confines of my psyche. So it became necessary to always, always, ALWAYS have a means by which to distract the villain who governs my subconscious. There would likely have been global ramifications had I not decided to put something in my ears to help the days pass.



Slowly, I’ve upgraded, piece by piece, to Summit-fi territory, and currently use the JH Audio Angie for most of my work/mobile listening. At home, hooked up to my fully balanced desktop rig, are the Audeze LCD-2.2 Fazor, and the Sennheiser HD600.

As diverse as they may seem, these headphones share a lot in common. They are all capable of warmth, without ever losing their air, detail, and imaging. This is the signature I look for in all of my equipment. I am neither a bass nor treble-head. I want everything in balance, with a nice rich timbre tying it all together. The mids are primarily where I find this happens. So perhaps I’m a mid-head?

At times I simply don’t want to put something in my ear. Maybe I’m not up to messing with fit and seal, or there’s earwax I just don’t feel like dealing with. Or maybe I’ve just had Angie in for too long. She never grows painful, but after four or five hours your ears do get tired. The point is there are plenty of reasons I desire a portable over-ear solution. On-ear was never an option. No matter how soft the padding, that constant pressure inevitably turns to white-hot agony after about an hour.

For a time I thought the B&W P7 was the headphone for me. Certainly, the Oppo PM-3 has a strong allure. Indeed, I’ll most probably get the Oppo eventually. As I researched the matter, the Sennheiser Momentum 2 kept calling to me. Worshiping as I do at the altar of the HD600, I can’t imagine where this attraction came from. Also, that retro aesthetic is killer.



What clinched the deal was when the price suddenly dropped all across the internet, from $349 down to $249. On top of that, I had accrued $50 worth of Amazon credit. So from a certain perspective, I got a set of phones, which I was willing to spend full retail price on, for only $200. That’s half what those other two choices are going for.

Upon first laying hands on them, I was filled with wroth and dismay, for I was certain they had sent me the On-Ears by mistake. These things are just so small! Then I tried them on, and my ears fit perfectly within the circumference of the pads. The Momentum 2.0 is comfortable. They have a luxurious feel. Genuine Leather, stainless steel, highly sturdy construction. I never fear accidently breaking these. Is it possible? Probably. But a normal fall shouldn’t do it, and you’d have to really work at it to snap off the cups or destroy the headband. Again, stainless steel.

I must admit, at first the M2 sounded underpowered playing from my Astell & Kern AK120II. Not that it couldn’t be driven loud enough. By 90/120, the SPL was already where I like it. No, it merely seemed hollow to my ears. Angie presents a fuller sound, as does my backup IEM, the ATH-IM03. The LCD-2 and HD600 are powered by the beefy Audio-GD NFB-28, so they too are driven to their fullest. The Momentum felt like it had untapped potential from a DAP. Yet the whole bloody point of this purchase was to use it with my AK! As you might guess, I was distraught.

It took a few days before I grew accustomed to its sound. Call it hardware burn-in or brain burn-in, but I eventually discovered a lust for the Momentum’s sound. On my desktop amp the music is meatier through the Senns. What I hear from a DAP is a lesser M2. Nonetheless, there’s still that sparkle, engaging bass, and glorious timbre. In other words, the Sennheiser sound is intact.

The Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 renders an almost loose, sort of raw, easy-going sound. It’s the Jefferson Airplane of headphones. It would take very little to make this signature awful. For these Senns, though, it’s all brought together with that sweet character as the fabric of this tapestry. I can understand why someone wouldn’t like these. They’re not tight or controlled, or all that smooth. They aren’t dark or bright. They’re just a little warm, reckless and wild. If you’re akin to me in any way, that fun, effortless sound that never fatigues is surprisingly welcome.

On the Shanling M2, which I have here for testing, they lose some of their vibrancy while growing warmer and somewhat creamy. The combination is lovely.



You may find this rather predictable, but no less than three of my co-workers own Beats. Solos, I believe. I gave two of them a little time with the Senns. They know nothing about them, probably never even heard of Sennheiser, and I told them only that I wanted to hear their impressions on how they stacked up. The first co-worker said the M2 sounded clearer. He thought it must be because his Solo was a few years old now. I merely smiled. The other man said it sounded pretty good if you don’t mind sacrificing bass. I nodded knowingly, thanked him for his impressions, and took the Sennheiser back.

I don’t have extensive experience with Beats, though I do try them out every time I find myself at BestBuy or MicroCenter. The M2’s bass is more textured, and though not as exaggerated, quite fun and heavy in its own right. The mids are clearer by a large margin, with a degree of detail and personality Beats can’t match. Neither is great with treble. Where the M2 really dominates Dr. Dre is in tonality, which is Sennheiser’s specialty. Both the HD600 and M2 possess this natural, earthy quality other manufacturers would kill to achieve.

The Sennheiser Momentum 2.0, like Beats, is great for mobility. The carry case fits inside my messenger bag, along with two IEMs and my AK120II, and all the non-audio boring stuff. I take these cans whilst walking or jogging. Often I’ll wear them on my long drive home from work, instead of using the car stereo. When I’m out shopping or doing errands, you may see a hairy man with cream-colored cans bound to his head. They even sound surprisingly capable and bass-y from my Galaxy S6.



Yes, I’m awfully fond of these babies. They’ve proven to be everything I needed, filling that over-ear void in my arsenal of portable gear. To pull me away from IEMs like Angie, they have to be comfortable as hell and sound really ********* good. And while Angie sounds better in a lot of ways, the Momentum 2.0 holds its own, and offers that singular full-size over-ear flavor that IEMs can’t match.

I still desire to try the Oppo PM-3, or maybe something bigger and better yet. We’ll see. Right now, this niche is met, and by the sexiest of the lot.

Postscript:
You’ll see that custom cable goes through some changes in these photos. I was honing my DIY craft and figured this was a fine headphone to experiment on.

-~::Pinky_Powers::~-

:isclaimer::
I managed to insinuate myself into the North American tour for FiiO’s new flagship audio player. I receive no payment for this review, and have no affiliation with the company… yet. I’m trying to convince James Chung I’m his long-lost son/grandfather/aunt. Fingers crossed! My participation in this tour was permitted only under the mandate that I share my opinions openly and honestly, for good or ill. Let’s all of us take a moment to sit and read and see if I can do that.

::Review::
I have earned the ire of some members of the Head-fi community for suggesting that DAPs should be devices focused and dedicated to the highest quality sound achievable. And nothing else. The idea of wifi, internet, streaming, and even video! I have a Galaxy S6 for that, and it does not sound very good compared to even a budget DAP. Top-tier smartphones are proficient at everything and masters of nothing.

Enough people want all that garbage in their DAPs, though. Yet I can’t help feel when a manufacturer splits its focus—and budget—to accommodate features that have nothing to do with sound quality, it’s to the detriment of the product.

As it turns out, the FiiO X7 does show signs of this, but not so bad as it could have.





Aesthetically, the X7 is mundane to look upon. Gone is the old FiiO, who gave us the idiosyncratic X3 and the handsome brute known as the X5 Classic. The 2nd Gen products are all about function, form be damned. There are rumors out of Hong Kong the last artist in FiiO’s employ was killed in the winter of 2014/15. The others fled months before, and those who couldn’t were transformed into something else.

That at least explains the X7. The most interesting thing about its appearance is the raised LCD screen, which happens to be a design flaw I am in fact docking them for. Displays must be exposed, or they aren’t displaying much. Still, there’s no reason to expose them like this. One oughtn’t take the most vulnerable part of a device and willfully make it more vulnerable.

The build feels sufficient and sturdy. Buttons are solid. NO SCROLL WHEEL! Yay! The layout of the buttons makes for awkward handling, I’m sad to say. By virtue of their symmetrical arrangement, when I press the Power button, I’ll often press the Track Forward or Track Backward on the opposite side of the player. Or if I try and hit the Play/Pause button, I might also change the volume. I’ve found the touchscreen a tad unresponsive. Sometimes it just doesn’t recognize you’ve touched it. Dead center, medium force, and it doesn’t notice.

One of the major drawbacks to the X7 is that it possesses only one slot for microSD cards. That, and the measly 32GB internal storage, makes this a tough sell for some of us. Both the X5 Classic and X5ii have two slots, giving you quite a lot more potential storage. The recently released Cayin N5 also has two, and for half the X7’s price. My AK120ii has but one slot, as well. Yet with 128GB internal storage, the issue becomes moot.

The GUI is rather good, but not great. It could use streamlining. A copious application. You have to select two separate folder icons before you enter Browse by Folder. Every other DAP I’ve owned has this icon on the root menu. Manually updating the firmware is a bit tricky to figure out. Once you do, it becomes simple. Now that the X7 can automatically check for updates, download, and install them, it promises to be as easy as Astell&Kern. Changing from Pure Music Mode to Android Mode was confusing, until v1.41beta. Now it prompts you to reboot, whereas before you would have no idea you should power-cycle the system. Unless you read manuals, which everyone knows hurts the pancreas.

The individual who had this unit before me reported all manner of troubles, which included a plague of system crashes so severe he feared it came straight out of the book of Revelations. Myself, I have seen only one crash. It caused the system to reboot and I thought, “Here we go. I was warned.” But I haven’t seen another one since. Perhaps because I’ve gone through four versions of the firmware since receiving my unit.

Putting my reservations aside, most of the UI is a step up from the FiiO X5. Simply doing away with that hell-wrought scroll wheel secures the X7’s victory. Now… pit it against my principle music player, the Astell&Kern AK120ii, and we see a whole other story. Button layout on the AK is made for human hands. You won’t press anything you didn’t intend. The software is trim, intuitive, and a joy to use. The screen sensitivity is without fault. Let’s not forget the gorgeous volume knob, which is a feature I love in my high-end equipment. Your tastes may disagree. No doubt some folk are muttering “fanboy” as they read this. That’s okay. To me the AK120ii simply feels superior.



Battery life was tested at a little over eight hours. I ran her from a fresh charge, on high gain, at volume 68, powering my Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Over-ear. That’s louder than I can comfortably listen at. I turned the screen on four or five times for mere seconds in order to check the status. It was playing standard 16bit/44.1Khz FLAC files. If you’re using IEMs on low gain, expect to get longer use of this DAP.

The ability to plug your X7 into a computer and use it as a USB DAC was still absent while I held it. FiiO says this feature will be unlocked in later firmware updates. Then again, they also say the X7 couldn’t possibly have given me rabies. But I feel mighty frothy, and boy do I hate water. Who’s right?

Google Play Store is present in the latest update. That, along with FiiO Marketplace, gives you access to apps such as Spotify and Tidal. Streaming from Tidal was super easy over my home wifi. I’ve read reports of line noise creeping into the signal when using wifi on the X7. My own limited experience using this device for streaming was pleasant, without any detectable signal interference.

Now… let’s talk about sound.

For this review I finally picked up a headphone switcher—LINE5—and oh my lord does it help distinguish all the variations between sources. I should have bought one of these a long time ago. Sadly, I still don’t have an SPL meter, so everything was volume-matched by ear.

It's an achievement so great I shall preserve it in black and white.



Upon powering up the X7 for the first time, right off I performed a factory reset. Whatever demons tormented the last reviewer, I wanted to head them off as best I could. I then updated the device’s software. I had all of forty minutes with v1.3 of the firmware before v1.4 released. The update improved the sound nicely. During those first forty minutes, I felt the X7 sounded kinda dull, lacking dynamics and energy. After the update, it was like the FiiO woke up, randy as hell, wanting to get it on with the nearest warm body.

The X7 is utterly neutral, more so than my other DAPs. Its soundstage has a fabulous open quality, with density of detail to fill it all in. Clean and clear is the impression.

I find it easier to describe a device by comparing it to another. A reference point like that gives my descriptions much-needed context. So I’ll match this player against my main DAP. But first, the backup.

The X7 is less warm than the X5 Classic, with even more detail. The X5 has always been known as a detail beast. The X7 is better. It also has a significantly larger soundstage, and smoother sonics. The music is crisper and more analogue-seeming. It takes its place as FiiO’s new flagship with ease.

In regard to my top player, the AK120ii, the X7 is again brighter and more neutral. They are more or less equal in detail. Being brighter, the X7 comes across as having more detail, but if you listen with care, it just isn’t so. The AK renders an even wider soundstage, and deeper.

That’s as far as I can go with my objective comparison. Those are aspects you can almost quantify. This hobby, however, is mostly a subjective one. What do we think about a product? How do we feel about what we hear?

To me, the warmer sound of the AK120ii gives the music a thicker, richer quality. It’s smooth and organic, with a weight of tonality the X7 falls short of. I observed this with every headphone I tested.

I favor a measure of warmth in my sound. That’s the bias I work under. Others lean towards a brighter character. They may prefer every aspect of the X7.

Now, when you take into account the Balanced Output of the AK120ii, it leaps ahead of the X7 in clarity, soundstage, texture, detail, and everything you can think of. FiiO is developing a Balanced Amp Module, along with one for high impedance headphones, and a few other configurations. When these are released the fight will be on leveler ground.

Forgetting my bias is sooooo easy with the X7. It recreates such a splendid melody. Nothing sounds bad on the FiiO.



I feared that pairing a highly neutral phone with a highly neutral DAP would generate a terribly dry, analytical sound. When I tried the Klipsch X7i with the FiiO X7, relief washed over me. It sounds brilliant. Being single-driver, Balanced Armature, this Klipsch is not going to take full advantage of FiiO’s new flagship. Nonetheless, I fell in love with these little earphones all over again. The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour played out with so much detail. It’s very smooth with delightful tonality.

Running the Audio Technica IM03 I found some of that warmth I hunger for. A Perfect Circle made me feel like I was in a dark club, watching them jam on stage beneath blinding lights. Oodles of bass, with plenty of air up top to keep it out of that mucky, veiled territory. The mids are just delicious.

Moving on up to the JH Audio Angie, I’m struck by the clarity and detail. It keeps some of the warmth of the IM03 while giving me everything the Klipsch did, only infinitely more refined. These are the phones I put in when I want to know exactly who the FiiO X7 is. Angie exposes everything, in the most intimate fashion. What I discover is the X7 can handle any genre, and handle it with aplomb. It never sounds digital. It never gets messy with complex recordings. Everything is spaced out and precise, very much on a level with Astell&Kern.

The Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Over-ears are some of the sweetest, easiest, most laid-back headphones. I took the X7>M2 pair out with me on a few errands leading up to Christmas Eve. Together they made the insanity of the traffic and shopping centers a lot more bearable. The X7 really brought out the Senn’s potential. Rumors by Fleetwood Mac has rarely sounded this good. HD Tracks’ Black Sabbath collection is quite simply life-altering on this setup.



Most digital music players I’ve had the pleasure of trying are not intended to drive 300 Ohm headphones, such as my Sennheiser HD600. Most can drive them to a loud enough volume, but they sound anemic and hollowed out. Cayin N5 could not deliver a satisfactory performance with the HD600. Even my AK120ii failed this test. The FiiO X5 Classic was the only DAP I’ve tried personally that can fatten up the sound and give me an adequate facsimile of how the Senns perform on a beefy desktop amp. Don’t get me wrong, they are still underpowered. You are not fooled into forgetting that. A good desktop amp makes the HD600 quite a bit thicker, smoother, and richer sounding. The X5 is only adequate in a pinch. And now, so is the X7. That’s right. With just the IEM Amp Module, it does as well as the X5. Once those other Modules arrive, we will have one hell of a player on our hands.

If you stripped me naked and took away all my audio gear, and then offered me the choice, free of charge, between the X7 and the AK120ii, I choose the AK, without hesitation. Nearly everything about it appeals more to my sensibilities. Of course, it’s wildly expensive. At the time of this writing, Amazon has it for just under $1,500. And that’s low for the 120ii. We’re talking nearly two and a half times the X7’s $659. I could never reasonably suggest the Astell&Kern is worth buying when the X7 performs so ******* well at just a fraction of the cost.

The question, as it always comes down to, is what can you afford, and what features do you prize? For many, the X5ii is the better choice, simply because of its storage capacity, and the lack of all that smartphone rubbish the X7 is bogged down by. I still love my X5 Classic. My AK120ii is the perfect upgrade to it. While it is Android based, it’s highly locked down and refined. There’s no App Store. It still feels, and sounds, like it’s dedicated to nothing but sound quality.

Whatever. Enough of this heinous philosophizing. Especially when the deeper mystery is why I had to be naked in the scenario I proposed two paragraphs up! Food for thought.

-~::Pinky_Powers::~-

-::Disclaimer::-
This is my first semi-legitimate review. Cayin was kind enough to send me a unit for their Midwest tour with the mandate that I report my findings openly and honestly, for good or ill. Very briefly I entertained the idea of suit-and-tie’ing my review, putting on a professional veneer in an attempt to tame my atavism. The primate in me clubbed that notion to death.

I do not need or want a new DAP. The AK120ii is my principle player, and the X5 Classic, my backup. I am set. Still, the N5 was enough of a curiosity that I joined the tour. In my Astell & Kern review I write about how close I was to buying the N6, so I suppose I had to give the little brother a try.

-::The Review::-
After hacking away at the mad packaging for ten minutes, I arrived at the box. Upon opening the box, I was struck by the presentation. This is closer to Astell & Kern territory than it is to FiiO. You feel like you must’ve spent a grand to earn a show like this. Everything is elegant and gorgeous, the device itself, most of all.







There is nothing really wrong with the FiiO X5 Classic. In fact, I quite like it. In my review I wrote some rather lurid prose on the aesthetics. The Cayin N5 is on another level. It is one of the most beautiful designs of any DAP to date. The execution of this design is very nearly its equal. By that I mean holding it and working it is about as wonderful as looking at it. Not quite, but almost.

The same cannot be said for the FiiO X5. As much as I love it, the UI leaves a lot to be desired. On the other hand, my main DAP, the AK120ii easily bests the Cayin N5, in looks and interface. Well… to be honest, their looks are about equal in my eyes. Different philosophies govern their designs, yet they are both highly attractive. Nonetheless, in build quality and interface, the AK does come out ahead. For the price, I should damn well hope so.

One must leverage some pressure on the N5’s scroll wheel to get it to move without your thumb slipping. This is not as awful as it sounds. You find your technique fast enough, and it operates smoothly once you do. I experienced zero overshoots or jitter. The wheel is MUCH better than the X5 Classic, and I even prefer it to the click’edy clacker of the 2nd Gen X3.

Depressing Cayin’s buttons is a satisfying experience. They each have an elegant mold and a good click.



A USB 3.0 cable is included. One end being standard USB, the other being the mutation known as microUSB 3.0. I’d never seen this before, and I grew afraid. None of my mobile devices uses 3.0, so when I saw the micro end of the cable, I thought it must have cancer and contacted an oncologist.

With this ugly cable I plugged the N5 into my computer and turned on USB DAC functionality. It did not work. There are drivers you need to download from the Cayin website. It was quick and easy, and once installed my PC was playing music through the N5. This test was done purely for the review… because I’m a reviewer. I was wearing my reviewer pants, which means it’s serious time. A thorough investigation of the DAP’s feature-set is required. Except for OTG and EQ. I didn’t test those. The pants were chafing and I had to take them off.

Ok! Enough of the boring tripe. There’s only one thing that can make a person subject themselves to a review this shambling. Desperation. You have a lunatic hunger to hear how it sounds, and feeding vicariously on other people’s written impressions is the only thing keeping you alive. I understand this. We’ve all been there.

Pinky was not impressed at first. The Cayin N5 was too bright, with sharp edges all over the spectrum, and a metallic quality that would eventually lead to heavy metal poisoning.

Then came the 2.0 firmware update. Wow. The player kept its great detail and sufficient soundstage, but was now warmer, smoother, and generally much more musical. All the unpleasantness vanished from the sonics. We are left with a device I can listen to with joy and contentment for hours.

Most of this listening was done on my trusty Audio Technica IM03. I found this pairing the most splendid to my ears. Together they rendered a slightly warm, detailed, and spacious sound. With the new firmware there is an abundance of bass, while never failing to capture the airiness the IM03 is known for. Its layering underwhelmed me, somewhat. I’m used to the IM03 immersing me in waves of music. I didn’t quite get that on the N5.



When I tried the Cayin with Angie, of the Siren Series by Jerry Harvey Audio, I was surprised by how bright she sounded… even with the new firmware. I’m used to Angie creating a neutral yet warmish sound on the AK120ii. She is very bright off the N5’s 2.5mm Balanced-output. This goes to show how transparent she is, for each source asserts its own nature as though Angie isn’t even there.

The Cayin>Angie combination sounds rather good, despite the brightness. There’s so much detail it comes off a little artificial, but I was easily swept away by the music. Sadly, there is terribly obvious noise on the N5’s Balanced line. You can hear it even when music is playing. Compare that to the absolute pitch black background of the AK120ii’s Balanced-out, and it’s difficult to accept.

There is very little noise (if any) on the N5’s Single-ended output. Because of this, and the overly bright signature with Angie, I much preferred pairing the N5 with the IM03.

My Klipsch Image X7i actually sounded better on the N5 than it did on the X5. This is the only phone that did, reckoned by personal taste. The Klipsch is perversely neutral, and detail-oriented. It found its mate with the Cayin N5.

Attempting to drive something larger, say, the 300 Ohm Sennheiser HD600, Cayin performed as you might expect. Not well. The Astell&Kern fares no better, but the FiiO X5 has enough warmth and bass to almost make up for the lack of power. It’s the only DAP I own that makes the HD600 sound decent. The Senns normally stay hooked up to my desktop rig, where they are utterly euphoric.

If you haven’t gathered by now, I still prefer my trusty X5 Classic over the Cayin. It has a smoother sound, perhaps a little wider staging and depth, and superior layering. Only by a small margin, mind you. After the N5’s 2.0 firmware, they possess more similarities than differences. The only areas the N5 champions over the X5 are in looks and its physical interface—buttons and wheel. I would love to add balanced output to that list, except the hissing corrupts any benefits balanced might provide the listener.



Pitting the Cayin N5 against my AK120ii is not a fair fight. You know it, I know it, and Cayin definitely knows it. Yet it is my main DAP this last month and a half and I measure all contenders against it. Most of this review is a Cayin vs. FiiO battle because there is genuine competition. Astell&Kern, on the other hand, obliterates the N5. There is no facet where the AK120ii does not trample it. The 120 renders a precise, flourishing, and organic sound, with the most realistic soundstage and separation I’ve ever heard. When performing A/B testing, the N5 seems kind of brittle and tinny in comparison.



A rich, warm sound is where my heart lay. Therefore, these impressions are biased by my orientation. If you lean towards a brighter, more detailed sound, the N5 may very well please you more than it did me. I cannot deny it sounds very good, all the more so after the update. The build and design are WAY above the competition at this price point. It makes the X5 look like a child’s play thing.



-~::Pinky_Powers::~-

I’ve never heard Adele’s Set Fire to the Rain before now.
That was a lie. But a lie the AK120ii made me believe.

The prospect of an upgrade to the FiiO X5 stirred my secret places. I didn’t quite know what “better” could sound like, but I had a notion, half-formed though it was. I could imagine a smoother, more refined presentation. I just didn’t know the ultimate shape this audio would take.

My plan was to go the Cayin N6 route in December, funded by my Christmas bonus. What a perfectly rational strategy that was. One might even say responsible and adult. I’ve heard extraordinary reports of Cayin’s sonic performance. I so wanted to want the N6, and a part of me desperately did. But in my heart, upgrading from the X5 meant leaving awkward, finicky controls behind. As I kept reading about the N6, the brick-like size and silly UI grew less and less appealing.

Mentally, I moved the N6 to a back burner as I looked elsewhere. I know! We’re nowhere near December yet, but there’s nothing wrong with a little research, yes?

I looked at everything you can imagine: The HM-901, Pono Player, Colorfly C4, Sony ZX2, even the Hum Pervasion! Now, by “looked” I mean “read up on”. It’s rare that I get to audition audio gear before I buy it. Kansas City is a thirsty town for us audio enthusiasts.

A scant few months ago the Astell & Kern DAPs were so far out of my reach that I never gave them more than a cursory glance. Financially, nothing has changed. My diseased mind, however… suddenly plopping down a grand for a music player is a reasonable investment, not half as lunatic as I once thought. Of course, it can’t be any old player. It must be the exact right one. This needs to sate my lust for a long time to come. A century, at least. Hence, lots and lots of research.

After this shift in perspective, the AK100ii seemed just about perfect. I couldn’t see myself shelling out the $1400-1700 on the 120ii. That was still too lunatic to countenance. Delving into the forums, I read all the reviews and absorbed every bit of information I could find. As I studied, a niggling sensation crept into my skull. The dual DAC of the AK120ii. The X5 has only one. The 100ii has only one. The N6, which I’ve heard such great things of, possesses two. The 120ii possesses two. The idea infected me like a parasite injected into my brains by the sting of a God-wasp. The dual DACs MUST make a difference.

I cannot deny, the fact it also shares practically all its architecture with the legendary AK240 was a mean draw.

So I put out my feelers for a used AK120ii. I oughtn’t have. December was still four months out, but I was curious.

A few days later I found a brand new, unopened unit in the Head-Fi Classifieds. The asking price was $1300. Which was fair, but I was not about to pay it. I sent a PM, almost as a joke, offering $1000. That’s what I was willing to pay for a used model. For a new one, this is practically an insult. I had no expectations of hearing anything back from him save maybe, “F off!”

To my eternal shock and gratitude, he agreed. With the stipulation I add $40 to cover PayPal fees and shipping. Who am I to argue with that? Pinky is a flesh and blood mortal, after all.

I don’t squander this kind of gold every day. Apart from buying a car, this is the most I’ve ever spent on a single item. You can imagine the emotional state I was in. The fear, the anxiety, the pseudo-intellectual introspection. What does one do in this delirium? Why, I charged another 1K on credit for a pair of in-ear monitors… naturally.

In fact, they were $1099. I’d laugh if it wasn’t so scary. My thinking was simple: I need a pair of phones capable of resolving all the AK120ii has to offer. Based on the reviews and impressions, the JH Audio Angie won me over. Not to mention, Angie comes with a BALANCED CABLE!

That is how I came to own my current mobile setup. All told, this pocket-sized system took me for over two grand. Can it possibly be worth it?



The 2nd Generation AK120 is a lot smaller than the pictures let on, though every bit as gorgeous. That Astell & Kern aesthetic speaks right to the artsy pervert in me. I feel dangerously fancy with this DAP on my desk. And when I put it in my pants, I know how Kennedy felt.



In the arena of UI, no one beats the new AK DAPs. With so few physical buttons there’s little room to go wrong. Though, the volume knob could feel sturdier. While it works with fine precision, there’s the slightest wobble. The touch-screen is flawless, responsive, intuitive, and rock-hard solid. Using v1.25 of the firmware, I’ve experienced no crashes or errors, no lost music or album art, every FLAC file plays no matter what bit-depth or resolution.

You’ll not find any report in my review of USB DAC performance, Bluetooth, or MQS WiFi streaming. I’m too indifferent about these features to bother testing them.

Battery life is not what I’m used to. It’s enough, though. I get a full day of hard listening. The X5 lasts quite a bit longer of course, but I can listen from morning to evening with the AK. So I’m satisfied.

I quite adore the FiiO X5 Classic. It was my second DAP, and the first one that gave me everything my DragonFly 1.2 did, but in a simpler package. In my review, I shamelessly gush over it. After a few weeks of heavy use, however, the scroll wheel went from a minor annoyance to down-right unusable. When I’d scroll down, it would jump three spaces UP before making a descent, and even then it would be rocky going. Trying to land on a specific item with the wheel is a practice I reserve only for my worst enemies. Button navigation is the X5’s only saving grace in terms of UI. If it didn’t have that, I would sell it today and never look back.

As it is, the X5 remains a cherished part of my gear, and a solid backup to my Astell & Kern.



In true backup fashion, the X5 is wholly outshone by the AK120ii. I mean, you’d expect this from the price gap, but you can never be confident how your ears will perceive things. The upgrade I get in the user interface alone makes the $1040 almost seem like a bargain. You combine that with the sound improvement, and my fiscal panic falls away. This was a good buy.

The AK120ii’s treble extents upward, easily surpassing the FiiO, while the bass hits lower. Vocals possess a level of realism and presence that erases notions of equipment and price, putting me closer to the music than I thought possible. It’s great in Single-ended, yet Balanced is where the 120ii sheds the expectations I placed on it, and dwarfs everything I’ve tried before. There’s a clarity and refinement that strikes you as unnatural at first. A few minutes in, you are swept away by the layering and instrument separation. The presentation is rolled out with considerable air and expanse. Every frequency is clean and pure in a manner the X5 could only dream of. My listening sessions are effortlessly euphoric.

The sonic profile of the AK120ii is neutral-warm. Less warm, and more neutral, than the X5 Classic. Due to the phenomenal sense of smoothness and refinement, the AK reaches an insane altitude of musicality, both organic and unassuming. All this with a degree of detail that’s sharp-as-a-diamond.

There is no genre that suffers on this player. THE BEATLES have never sounded better. I can’t remember MADONNA half this trance-inducing. DISTURBED roars and clamors with all the viscera they can muster. EMINEM is every bit the king of pop-rap. Then there’s RADIOHEAD… oh man. Nothing sweeps me up into another land like they do. In Balanced-out, RADIOHEAD sounds so three-dimensional and numinous you think it MUST have come from another galaxy, far, far way.



Poorly mastered works, victims of the Loudness War, will not magically sound good. In fact, they may sound a little worse, in certain ways. The AK120ii is merciless in revealing what was actually recorded. SIA’s 1000 FORMS OF FEAR does not shine like I want it to. Most of my albums scale nicely as I upgrade my equipment. Some do not. SIA’s latest work is one of my favorites, but it was mastered by a villain.

Every album I listen to is in FLAC format. Either ripped from CD or downloaded in High Definition.

You don’t need thousand-dollar headphones to appreciate the difference between the X5 and the AK120ii. Using the Audio Technica IM03 (around $300), I was wowed by the Astell & Kern yet again. These monitors instantly grew smoother, more dynamic, and rendered a wider soundstage. My old standbys on the other hand, the Klipsch Image X7i, could not render enough of the AK’s virtues to make the price tag worth it. These IEMs almost favored the X5’s upfront presentation over the subtlety and refinement of the AK120ii. Still, there was a marked silkiness that could not be ignored.





On the AK120ii, The Sennheiser HD600 fails to come alive in standard Single-Ended output. It lacks bass and its characteristic warmth, with a general emptiness to the mids. Maybe in balanced it would find some pep, but I only have the stock Sennheiser cable. In contrast, the X5 gives a pretty decent show of the HD600. Not the best it’s ever sounded, yet good enough to enjoy. Obviously, with a 300 Ohm over-ear, you should power her with a secondary amp, so this test doesn’t mean much. All the same, I found the experiment interesting.



My comparisons with the X5 also apply to the funky little USB DAC known as the AudioQuest Dragonfly 1.2. That was my first DAP, as I reckon things. For months I had it connected to my Galaxy S4, and that was how I listened to my FLAC files. The X5 replaced it, measuring neck and neck in every sonic category save one: The Dragonfly was a tiny bit smoother. Well, I’m pleased to say Astell & Kern mocks AudioQuest’s attempts at refinement. The AK120ii is what true high-end audio sounds like.

I use the words “smooth” and “refined” quite a lot in this review. I even opened a thesaurus to find other ways of saying it. That’s where I got “silkiness” from a few paragraphs up. This is, flat-out, the AK120ii's prime attribute: Silky smoothness and cohesive refinement. What any of that means to you is hard to say. So let me try a different tact.

The Astell & Kern AK120ii is a monster step up from everything else I’ve heard.

-~::Pinky_Powers::~-

Oh sweet lord, I’ve done it now.

In nine months I’ve gone from my first $100 pair of IEMs to a set that is eleven times as expensive. A smattering of other in-ears bridged that gulf, including two personal favorites, the ATH-IM03 and the Klipsch X7i. I shall hold on to those for some time yet, for they serve two important functions: The Audio Technica delivers a sound I adore, and is therefore well suited for backup, should the worst happen. The Klipsch are the smallest, most comfortable IEM’s I’ve tried, so I keep them near at hand for listening to podcasts and audiobooks via the Galaxy S6.

I think they’ll hold those positions for quite a while. Partially, because they fit those roles so very well, but also because Angie threw me into debt, and I CANNOT buy another… anything… for a long, long time. If I can’t buy new equipment, the roster can’t change.

So this is me, near the precipice of top-tier audiophile kit. Am I an audiophile now? *******, I don’t know. I’m starting to look like one, for good or ill. Such distinctions are better left to wiser goons than me. All I care about is the music, and what I’m getting out of it.

On that front, Pinky is a blessed, blessed man.

It began with me dickering over the price of a Head-Fi’er’s new, unopened Astell & Kern AK120ii DAP. I won him over at $1040. Incredible bargain! I was beside myself with anticipatory joy. The kind of joy which clouds your mind and makes you shag your best friend. Or in my case, turn right around and put down a grand on the old credit card for a set of phones capable of taking full advantage of a player of this caliber.

Enter Angie, the newest sibling in the Siren Series by Jerry Harvey Audio and Astell & Kern. She possesses eight drivers per side: Duel low, duel mid, and a whopping four Balanced Armatures to cover the treble. While I’m not a treble-head by any stretch of the imagination, I appreciate this asymmetry, since it’s very often the high frequency spectrum where lie the greatest offense by IEMs. Sibilance. Distortion. General harshness. I support any effort for smoothing out that range without chopping off the head of your music.

Angie succeeds. It takes four drivers dedicated to nothing but those high frequencies for her to render them with the effortless purity only heard in full-size cans.

I paired Angie with the X5 Classic for a whole day and a half before the AK120ii arrived. Therefore, my first impressions are based off that combination.



Coming from the ATH-IM03, Angie strikes me as remarkably clear. Now, I always felt the IM03 delivered clear, capable sound. Compared to Angie, they are muddy and effete. Thanks to those quad highs, Angie’s upper range stretches forever. You think this would make them bright. That was my fear, going in. But the Siren Series IEMs have adjustable bass, and I found 2 o’clock on the pots to bring enough warmth into the mix that Angie never feels cold, hollow, or analytical. That clarity is accompanied by bold, agile bass, and crisp, organic mids.

On the X5 Classic, Angie is an indisputable step up from my IM03, but not much more.

Then the Astell & Kern arrived.

The 2nd Generation AK120 elevates all my headphones a notch or two, but Angie, using Balanced Out, tramples over the IM03, crushing its skull on the way to the throne. I don’t have a balanced cable for the Audio Technica, so it never competed on that field. For Angie, it was here she truly flowered.



I’ve heard it described, when upgrading to the next tier, as lifting yet another veil between you and the music. The lower down the rung, the more veils shroud the naked soul of sound and melody. There’s no telling how many veils remain at any given stage. You only know when another is removed. You can hear it. You can FEEL it.

This is how I felt when I first listened to Angie and the AK120ii together. I hadn’t felt a leap like this since January, when I purchased the Klipsch R6 to replace my Skullcandy Ink’edII. In other words, my first foray into head-fi. There have been a few veils since then, but that first pair of proper earphones blew past eight thresholds in one go.

It’s happened again. It only cost me $2000.

Plenty of folk have gone to great length describing the benefits of balanced lines. They say element separation sharpens as the soundstage widens, positioning takes on a sense of three-dimensionality, while line noise is all but eliminated. This is quite true.

Don’t feel bad if you are skeptical of such claims. If someone were to tell me the AK120ii had a noise floor, and I hadn’t yet heard its Balanced Out, I would punch him in the crotch and spit on his neck and say, “You know nothing, Jon Snow!” as I strode off.

Experiencing first-hand what Balanced is like, I must condemn that instinct. The clarity of Angie’s balanced cable is quite frankly alarming. Equipment should never sound this transparent. It has to be dangerous, getting this close to that pure, naked soul we spoke of earlier.

In this setup, Angie’s treble reminds me of the Sennheiser HD600. It has weight, contour, and richness of timbre. SO strange for an in-ear monitor. Usually earphones are described as having highs which are sharp and detailed, and if they are not attenuated, fatiguing. Not so with Angie.

I found the stock tips uncomfortable, and was happy to see my old favorites, the JVC Spiral Dots, fit Angie rather well. They are extremely wide-bore, and don’t obstruct the nozzle in any way. With these, the sound opens even further, making Angie smoother, and all the more natural-sounding. I’ve been switching between JVC and Ultimate Ears 600 tips. Both are amazing with this earphone.

The mid-range is a bit of an enigma. I find it hard to describe. Vocals are not what I could call lush, which is a little disappointing when I write it down like that. However, listening to Angie as I am right now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with them. They sound technically perfect and honest in color. You get all the grain and texture the source contains, with flawless articulation. The mids don’t stand out as Angie’s showpiece, even though they are a bit forward in the mix. They just sound RIGHT. Not special, not the sort of thing you’re going to talk about around the cantina. Just… right.

Bass is something I like to talk about. Angie will never have the most bass. In fact, I think the IM03 might have a bit more. As they say, it isn’t the quantity that counts, but the quality. Angie’s bass is controlled so well, and textured so beautifully, it stands out as something very special. Now, I haven’t heard other TOTL earphones. I’ve never been to a meet, and we just don’t have stores like that here in Kansas City. My comparison is against the equipment I own or have owned. Take the IM04, a phone I returned after about a month for being too dark. It has two BA drivers for the low range, just like Angie. And yet the ATH does not stack up. The Siren drowns the IM04 in the ocean of its perfection. Again, not in bass quantity, but in every other aspect of the sub’s character and presentation.

If it sounds like Angie is light on bass. It’s really, really not. In all honesty, it might be VERY close to the IM04 in weight, when you turn the pots all the way up. I haven’t done that since first trying them on. This was too dark for my tastes. Your mileage may vary.



At 2 o’clock on the pots, the bass is already more than the HD600. Which isn’t saying much, as those headphones are not known for a bass-heavy sound. In texture and tonality, the two phones are quite close. From me, that is a high compliment indeed.

I won’t lie. The craftsmanship of Angie’s build is a major selling point for me. I am so tired of cheap plastic shells that look as if they will chip and crack at any moment. At the time of this purchase, I was actively pursuing a used pair of Earsonics SM64. The Velvets also perked my interest. Then I read up on Angie and Layla, and these lesser options, with their famously poor construction, lost appeal. The Siren Series is a different beast altogether. The handcrafted carbon fiber and kevlar, metal bezel, and serious cable connection make my nipples hard. Nothing I’ve owned in the audio world is this fine. Even the HD600 is wrought of mostly ugly, painted plastic.

It gives Pinky great pleasure to announce the actual product is every bit as advertized. Angie is splendidly well-made, as is the AK120ii. She and the Astell & Kern DAP stand apart.





The girl is big, though. VERY big. Absurdly big. I’m more than a little afraid of her, actually. If she gets angry… I don't need to tell you what will happen.

In spite of her enormity, Angie is rather comfortable. I easily forget how large she is until I reach up and touch my ears and feel these monstrous protrusions. In moments of insanity, I’m tempted to get the customs. Of course, this mustn’t happen for a long time. My credit card cannot bare it. And since Angie is so comfortable, it’s not nearly as important as it otherwise would be.

The only aspect I haven’t yet talked about is the cable and memory wire. I’m not a staunch hater of memory wire, though it can lead to frustration. The stock cable for the IM0x series by Audio Technica can actually hurt, if you use it to its full potential. Angie’s cable is as close to perfect as I’ve known. The memory wire is just long enough to direct the cable back over your ear, and then it disappears, leaving a very soft, supple cord to drape down. I have no qualms with it, whatsoever. JH Audio does it right.

And that is my dominating sentiment towards Angie. She is simply done right. What more can I say?

It’s a point of agitation that Angie is seldom spoken of without comparing her to Layla. That is a foolish thing to do. Most folk cannot afford $2500 on a set of IEMs. I sure as hell can’t. We look at Angie as the upper-most of our price range. We want to know how she compares to other phones in that bracket. It confounds me that such comparisons are practically nonexistent in official reviews. I’ve found only one.

Well… mine’s no better in that regard. Not for lack of trying. I’ve matched her against the closest competition I could muster. Angie mops the floor with the lot of them.

-~::Pinky_Powers::~-

I’ve had my eyes peeled for a staunch enough system to replace my GalaxyS4>UAPP>OTG>Dragonfly1.2 mobile setup. While this package sounds amazing, it’s cumbersome and time-consuming to connect and get running. I have all my adapters and cables, along with the Dragonfly itself, in a leather pencil roll. To set it all up I must unroll the bundle, take the Dragonfly out of its sheath, remove the cap, pull out the cable I need for going mobile, connect everything, load up USB Audio Player Pro, and select an album to play. Oh, and headphones, of course. Gotta have that.





All this can be accomplished in less than a minute. But in the doing, that time takes on a brutish quality. It’s a lot more work than it should be. I wanted something lighter and quicker, something self-contained, compact, and extremely easy to just pick up and go.

Them who roam the lands of high-end audio call a contraption of that sort a “DAP”. Queer little buggers… these audiophiles.

There are lots of options out there. Fortune placed a 2nd Generation FiiO X3 in my path at a reasonable mark-off. You can find that review on your own, if you fear what awaits you for not reading it. The X3ii did everything I could possibly want from a DAP, save one crucial mark: it did not match or surpass the Dragonfly in raw, unadulterated sound quality. It came close in some ways. The sound is so clean and lively, that after a week of not comparing it to the Dragonfly, I began to ponder why I should ever desire an upgrade.

Then, when I listen to the Audioquest again, I am refreshed of its spaciousness, clarity, and refinement. After that, it’s tough to reconcile the disparity and convince oneself to settle.




Perhaps a week and a half into owning the X3ii, I found a brand-new X5 Classic for $195. The taut, well-oiled reflexes of a degenerate sprang into action, and I pounced on the opportunity.

Allow me to say, if you’ve spent the last month reading every review of the X3ii, X5 Classic, and X5ii, forming proper expectations is a cruel and befuddling exercise. Part of me thought this could be a monstrous upgrade. Another part feared it might weigh in just under the X3ii, and sound rather too dark as a bonus. Both extremes informed by stuff I’d read.

My principle monitors for mobile and work listening were the fairly new AUDIO TECHNICA IM04 in-ear phones. Being on the warm side, I knew mingling with the X5 Classic might yield a very dark sound indeed.



As it turns out, it does. But only on a few especially dark albums—like Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, or Dookie by Green Day, or Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black. Most everything else sounds marvelous. Using the ATH-IM03, which is a brighter, airier IEM, these darker tracks breathe again. The sonic signature is mildly warm, yet quite open and spacious. There is a rich, velvety smoothness to the music that favors slower acoustic pieces, yet somehow never falters on quick, complex tracks. Paired with a multi-driver earphone, you are treated to such immersive layering. The X5 is a clear, transparent, detail-oriented machine.

I’ve coveted the aesthetics of the X5, even before I knew what it was. Again and again, as I read up on various products, I’d see a photo of this bold, almost brash, hunk of metal. I’d think, “That’s right and good, isn’t it? That’s what a DAP ought to look like.” I much prefer this design over the 2nd Gen FiiO players. While smarter, sleeker, and, functionally speaking, superior, they’ve killed something in the personality department. Also, on a carnal level, the fluidity of the scroll wheel of the X5 Classic promotes a greater number of erections than the cog-like workings of the newer players. There’s a luxuriousness upon fingering it which frightens me.

When coupling this DAP with something larger, like the Sennheiser HD600, it holds up admirably. Setting the volume at 100/120 on High Gain, I reach a sufficient blast to meet the fundamental requirements of Metallica, the Black Album. These 300 Ohm headphones do not reach the same fidelity on the X5 as they do on my desktop amp. Then again, the Maverick Audio TubeMagic D1 Plus with the OPA627 upgrade is a hellcat. Nonetheless, fed by the X5, it sounds more or less badass.

I don’t own a portable amp to which to chain my DAPs. Something like the E12 or the C5 is the antithesis of what I want from a portable unit. As I only take IEMs on the go, this is not a problem. But should I ever want to go mobile with a king-hell headset, the X5 will serve splendidly in a pinch.



14 Ohms, 34 Ohms, 300 Ohms… all pair very well here. Even my 50 Ohm Klipsch X7i opens up like a prom date for the X5 Classic. It’s a privet agony, but the X7 has been relegated to backup duty in recent months. Once you go multi-driver, it’s impossible to willingly go back. Still, the X7 is the lightest, smallest, and most comfortable earphone I’ve ever tried. So they stick around, criminally underutilized, as my Podcast and Audiobook phones, played via the headphone-out of my Galaxy S4 (now S6). Heaven forbid if my IM03 were to go on a walkabout I could stride onward with the X5>X7i setup, head held high. They certainly make a handsome couple.



So… the FiiO thrills on all of my equipment. But does it compete against that which it’s meant to replace? Well…

The Dragonfly has a soundstage more-or-less equal to the X5, erring on the side of broader. There seems to be a greater degree of detail on the X5. It’s a close call, though. The Dragonfly sounds smoother, perhaps due to a combination of less detail and wider staging. Both sound very close to one another. I have trouble deciding which is darker and which is lighter. I believe the Dragonfly is a smidge brighter, if at all.

It’s particularly difficult to decide which is better. Smoother speaks to refinement I’ve always felt, but in this case, the X5 makes up for it in detail, a natural rendering of space, and a lively sense of musicality. Switching back and forth between the two, neither emerges a clear winner. They share so much in common.

Which makes this FiiO DAP a perfect replacement for the muddling mess of the Audioquest. I’ve been using the X5 Classic for weeks now, and have not once reckoned a lack in my listening sessions. This is what I had hoped the X3ii would sound like. Turns out my expectations were perverted by the lusty Dragonfly.

If all you need is a thumb-sized DAC to plug into a PC or tablet, the Dragonfly 1.2 cannot be beat for the price. But if you want an all-in-one portable music player of extreme audio fidelity, the X5 Classic is where you start.

I say “start”, because I’m nowhere near done yet. I still long to discover new levels of quality and refinement. But this will tide me over for a few months at least. It’s the beginning of August now. With my Christmas bonus I may give the Cayin N6 a try. See where that takes me.

This is the perfect place to rest for a time. If I were unable to buy another piece of gear, it would not kill me. The X5>IM03 is unreasonably great and delivers immaculate pleasure to your ear-holes.

-~::Pinky_Powers::~-